


8:19 on a Tuesday Night

by Zurela



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Road Trip, Angst, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Family Issues, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Or More Like, Pining, Slow Burn, strangers to enemies to friends to lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-09-25 11:21:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 22,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9817976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zurela/pseuds/Zurela
Summary: There was always a general chaos that surrounded the house next door to Keith, but furniture flying out the windows and onto his yard was a new one.Just two strangers driving across the country in an old truck.





	1. 3:46 on a Friday Afternoon

**Author's Note:**

> Are you ready for another fic about these two falling in love with each other, only without being able to run from their feelings because they're trapped in a car together? I know I'm ready for that. If you're like _super_ ready, like so super ready for pining and bad music choices that you just have to tell someone, you could always come harass me on [my tumblr](https://zurela.tumblr.com/), if that like suits your fancy or something.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith have been neighbors for years but never met. Luckily for them, they're about to get to know each other _very_ well.

The house next door to Keith seemed to have a million people living inside. There was almost constantly a mass of children in the yard, an army of beaten up cars in the driveway, and the scent of something being barbecued that surely left the entire neighborhood drooling. Sometimes there were shouts of anger, sometimes uncontrollable laughter. The only thing that remained consistent was the nonstop sense of chaos.

It was a strong contrast to the quiet stillness of Keith’s home. Keith was an only child living with his parents, though their house was too large for just three people. They could go days without seeing each other, yet still know where the others were at every minute of the day. Since there were no other members of the Kogane family living in California, visitors were rare.

The entire place felt almost frozen in time; nothing ever moved, nothing ever changed. The only evidence of life was the lack of any form of dust or weathering. Despite being relatively unused, the furniture was always pristine, constantly prepared for company that never came.

Keith often found himself envious of the the wild frenzy of the neighbors’ house in comparison to his own lifeless household. While theirs was warm, his was cold. Where they seemed lively and inviting, he felt oppressed by silence.

Furniture flying out of their windows was a new one, though.

At first, the yelling coming from next door went ignored. Sure, it sounded tense, but with that many people in one house, there were bound to be arguments, right? Keith suspected this would go on for a few more minutes, followed by a few hours of uncharacteristic calm before some new form of chaos took over again. It was like clockwork; any tension was quickly extinguished by the sheer amount of people.

That’s not what happened this time.

This time, instead of the sound of a door slamming, there was the sound of glass shattering. Maybe an ugly fight between siblings, then? A couple breaking up? There was no way to tell. Keith cringed from inside his bedroom where he tried to ignore the noise coming from next door. Sure, he could close the window, but it was far too hot for that. This would end soon enough and he would be able to turn his attention back to his book.

Except no, that would be too easy. More shattering, and a crash loud enough to send Keith to the window to investigate. He couldn’t quite see into his neighbor’s window, but he could definitely see the broken lamp and chair on his yard. Soon after that, some smaller objects that were harder to distinguish joined the pile. Picture frames? Books, maybe?

Even though Keith was the only one home at the moment, he knew his parents wouldn’t appreciate coming home from work to find their yard looking like a vandalized Ikea. Sighing, he pushed himself up from his bed and made his way outside. Too lazy to put on shoes, he made his way out with bare feet. Compared to what was going on in that household, it was safe to assume they could handle something as bizarre as being barefoot.

Keith counted his lucky stars that he was able to make it all the way next door without being pelted by flying home decor. Before he was able to give himself the satisfaction of angrily pounding on the door (as he had been tempted to do so many times before), the door swung open to reveal a guy walking out with a big duffel bag over his shoulder. 

He looked to be about Keith’s age, maybe a little younger. Like the rest of the people he saw constantly moving in and out of the house, he had deep brown skin and was unreasonably tall. While Keith couldn’t remember him specifically, the chances that this was Keith’s first time seeing this kid were low. It was more than likely that his face was just lost in a sea of the other members of that house.

Whoever this guy was, he clearly didn’t care about Keith or the state of his yard. He stormed down the driveway, clearly not in a good mood, only to practically run over Keith. Had he not realized someone else was here until now?

“Why aren’t you wearing shoes?”

Keith was startled out of his own musings about whatever the heck was going on here to finally remember that he had come over here for a reason, that reason being unrelated to his lack of shoes. “What?”

His neighbor used his chin to gesture down to Keith’s bare feet. “Your feet. Are you just walking around outside without shoes on?”

Keith scowled. “No, I was in too much of a hurry to come yell at you for throwing shit in my yard to grab some. Sorry, I’ll try to remember next time.”

Whatever anger had been on his neighbor’s face before was erased by a look of surprise and then a grin. “Oh, man, sorry about that,” he laughed. “Didn’t really see where I was aiming. I didn’t, like, hit you or anything, did I?”

Keith rolled his eyes. “No, you didn’t hit me, but I’m not a fan of the pile of broken glass and furniture on my lawn. Wanna clean it up so my parents don’t kill me when they get home?”

By the way his neighbor knocked his shoulder as he walked past, Keith assumed the answer to his question was ‘no.’ Instead, the guy just started a casual stride towards the street that almost made Keith forget the fact that, not five minutes earlier, he had been in a pretty nasty screaming match.

“Sorry bro, no can do. I gotta go.”

“And where do you have to go so badly that you can’t spare the time to clean up the mess that, again, _you_ created in _my_ yard.”

“Virginia. It’s a long drive, I’d rather not waste time.”

 _That_ made Keith pause. Virginia? Why was this guy going to Virginia? Maybe that’s what the fight was about; this guy was leaving for Virginia and someone wasn’t happy he was going. Whatever the fight was about, that wasn’t Keith’s problem. No, Keith’s problem was the pile of stuff outside his window that he was going to either have to get rid of or explain to his parents. “I take it you won’t be back by later tonight, then? I really don’t want to be the one to have to explain this to my parents.”

The guy finally turned back to face Keith and shrugged. “‘Fraid not. Not coming back.”

Again, Keith was shocked into silence. Whatever had happened here was clearly a much bigger fight than Keith had initially assumed if this guy, who couldn’t be older than twenty, was leaving with only a duffel bag and no intention of returning.

Keith could imagine what would come later for him, in that case. He definitely didn’t have time to clean up the pile of stuff which was, for the record, _still growing_. Even though this guy had left the house, the fight apparently wasn’t. Keith had a feeling that even if his neighbor did decide to come back, he might not be welcomed.

Keith’s parents would not be pleased. They rarely were, but this was a new issue. Keith knew his parents didn’t like their neighbors, and this may finally be the straw that broke the camel’s back. He could picture it now: the nightly dinner conversation that was typically about work would instead be about the obnoxious neighbors for the next month. His parents would have something else to be unhappy about. They would never directly express any unhappiness with their neighbors, instead letting any resentment just build with time. And for whatever reason, Keith felt responsible for it.

Keith watched his neighbor as he threw his duffel bag into the backseat of an old looking truck. While he was clearly still angry from whatever had happened inside his house, there was also a look of determination there. Keith couldn’t even imagine the feeling; what was it like to leave someplace familiar and know you may never be back? California was the only home he had ever known. Nineteen years of the same house, the same parents, the same, the same, the same. Leaving it was only ever...a thought.

Oh, fuck.

Wait!” Keith shouted, sprinting over to the truck where his neighbor had been about to climb in. “Can I come with you?”

Oh, _fuck_.

The guy looked puzzled. “What?”

“You’re going to Virginia, right? I want to come with you. I’ll even help pay for gas.”

The guy seemed to look Keith over again, more carefully this time, as if he were actually trying to take him in this time. Finally, he sighed. “You’re planning on going to the other side of the country without any shoes?”

Keith looked down at his bare feet and finally registered the sensation of hot asphalt burning into his skin. Oh.

Keith looked back up at his neighbor. Trying not to sound desperate, he gripped the open door of the car. “Just give me five minutes to get my stuff and I’ll be good to go.”

The guy climbed all the way into the driver’s seat and slumped back with a sigh. “Fine. Five minutes and I’m leaving. If you’re here before that, you can come.”

Keith nodded and made a mad dash back for his house. Oh fuck, oh fuck, he was doing this, he was honestly actually doing this. Five minutes was not enough time to think this through, so Keith decided the easiest thing to do was just...not think this through. He ran up the stairs to his room and nearly kicked the door in. What do you take when you have five minutes to pack your entire life into a backpack?

No time for that. Focus. Keith unzipped all the zippers in his backpack and turned it upside down, letting the contents fall to the floor. He pulled open his dresser drawers and grabbed a handful of t-shirts, jeans, and underwear. After that came his wallet and keys. Phone, charger, laptop. Hairbrush, toothbrush, toothpaste. Water bottle, headphones. Finally, he dug his arm into the very back of his desk drawer and grabbed a small jar. Keith twisted the top off and pulled out a large pile of cash. Sure, he had most of his money stored away in his savings account, but he had kept a small chunk stashed away in his room that not even his parents knew about. Keith had planned on saving it for something ridiculous, as almost a sort of promise to himself that one day he would do something adventurous and stupid. This seemed to fit that description a bit too well.

Keith considered grabbing old photos or books, but decided against it. His backpack could barely shut as it was. In some way, it was almost better to leave everything behind. The point of leaving a life behind was to embrace the opportunity to create a new one. He relished in the feeling.

With one last sweep of the room to check for anything else important, Keith grabbed his boots and jacket and ran without bothering to put on either. While he didn’t know exactly how long it had been, Keith assumed he was cutting it close. Luckily, he threw the front door open and was greeted by an ugly green truck, still parked where it was when he left. He pulled the door shut behind him and took a moment to focus on the feeling of locking that door behind him for the last time.

This house was no longer going to be his house. Whatever was coming next, it wasn’t more of the same. That thought in itself was the most terrifying and liberating feeling Keith had ever experienced.

He walked down the driveway and across the street. Keith took a deep breath and pulled the passenger door open to see his neighbor still sitting there, eyes on his watch. He looked up and stared directly at Keith. 

“Man, you only had 24 more seconds. I thought you weren’t going to make it.”

And with that, he turned the key in the ignition, shifted the car into drive, and pulled away from the curb and into the street.

Both of them stole a glance into the rearview mirror, but neither called the other out on it.


	2. 4:11 on a Friday Afternoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith seem to have very different ideas about how this road trip is going to go. This is gonna be a long ride.

“I’m Lance.”

Keith turns his gaze away from the world passing by outside the window to look at the stranger he’s currently trapped in a car with.

“What?”

His neighbor gives him a quick glance before turning his attention back to the road. “My name is Lance. I figured if we’re gonna be stuck together in this car for a few days, you probably should know my name.”

“Oh. Right.” Keith was quickly starting to regret this decision. Sure, at the time it seemed like...well, not a _good_ plan, but a plan at least. It had felt good to actually make a decision about something as opposed to waiting for some miracle to force him out into the world.

Now, though, after not even half an hour of driving, Keith decided this was in fact the worst decision he had ever made.

Lance looked at him again and scoffed. “Okay, cool, not gonna tell me your name then? That’s fine, I’ll just keep calling you ‘weird emo guy’ in my head.”

Keith rolled his eyes and turned his head back towards the window so Lance wouldn’t see him blush in embarrassment. He didn’t purposely try to be aloof or anything, he was just bad at talking to people. “It’s Keith.”

If Lance thought Keith was awkward, he sure didn’t act like it. “Well, Keith, welcome to the Lance Express. While customer satisfaction is our number one priority, we’re definitely expecting said customer to do some driving along the way.”

Keith shot a glare at Lance. “I said I would help pay for gas, I never said anything about driving. It’s not like you were planning on me coming anyways, so why can’t you just do it?”

Lance laughed despite Keith’s icy attitude. “Sure, I can drive the whole way. I just figured this was gonna be a long enough trip as it is, but if I’m driving the whole way, that adds at least a few more days so I can, you know, sleep and stuff. What, are you just looking for an excuse to spend more time with me?” With that, he turned to Keith and gave him a look that was probably supposed to be charming, but was quickly ruined by the honk of a horn as he started drifting into the next lane.

Keith huffed and turned even further away from Lance, face furiously red as he mumbled under his breath.

“What was that? You’re gonna have to speak up.”

Keith sighed and closed his eyes. It would be easier to just get this over with. “I don’t know how to drive.”

Silence. Well, Keith figured, it was better than laug-

Lance burst into hysterical laughter.

Apparently he spoke too soon.

Keith rolled his eyes and turned back towards Lance. “Thanks. I really appreciate that.”

Lance’s laughter died off into giggles as he dramatically wiped a tear from his eye. “Sorry, man, but how old _are_ you? You can’t be much younger than me. You’re what, seventeen? Eighteen?”

Keith slumped down into his seat in a failed attempt to disappear completely. “Nineteen.”

Lance’s eyes widened, though he kept his eyes on the road this time. “Nineteen! You’re a year older than me and you still haven’t learned to drive? I mean, sure, maybe you don’t have a car, but everyone should at least have their license!”

The decision to hole himself up with a total stranger was making itself increasingly clear that it was, in fact, a terrible one. “Whatever, I didn’t have time. Didn’t have a car. I like walking or taking my bike. Does it really matter?”

Lance finally seemed to relax back in what Keith hoped was an indication that Lance was done teasing him. “I mean, it kinda does right now. I know I was planning on doing this whole drive, but dude, it’s a pretty long way.”

“Well, sorry.” Keith could feel a headache starting to form behind his eyes from rolling his eyes so much. “Looks like you’re on your own.”

“Can I teach you?”

Now that sounded like a very bad idea. “What, teach me to drive? No. Based on what I’ve seen so far, you’re not exactly the best driver.”

Lance rolled his eyes this time, though he didn’t seem as annoyed as Keith felt. “Shut up, man, it’s easy. Besides, this is the best place to start. Driving on the interstate across the country like this? That’s about as easy as it gets. Come on, it’ll make the trip much faster. I won’t even make you drive unless we’re out on the open highway.”

While this sounded like a horrible plan, the idea of shortening this trip as much as possible was too tempting by now. “Fine. But if we get pulled over, I’m blaming you.”

Lance grinned. “I would expect nothing less.”

Luckily, they both fell silent after that. Keith was hoping for a few hours of some quiet, but not five minutes went by before Lance started talking again. “So, where do you wanna stop first? The Grand Canyon is a must, obviously, but I wouldn’t mind a detour down to LA if you’re up for it.”

“What?” Keith asked. “We _just_ talked about trying to make this trip as short as possible. And now you’re talking about making tourist stops? No.”

Lance let out a scandalized gasp. “We’re on a cross-country road trip and you _don’t_ want to stop anywhere? Where’s the fun in that?”

Keith sighed. “I’m not here for a vacation. I’m just trying to get there.” 

That should’ve been the end of that, but apparently Lance was stubborn. “No way, man! It’ll be like Thelma and Louise!”

“Oh yeah? So we’re gonna murder someone and then drive off a cliff?”

Keith had been trying to make fun of Lance, but Lance either didn’t realize or didn’t care. “Whoa, is that how that movie goes?” He laughed. “Man, I gotta stop referencing movies I haven’t seen.”

This wasn’t what Keith signed up for. Lance said he was going to Virginia, and Keith figured it was his best chance at a cheap ride across the country. He was not here to see the world’s biggest toothpick, or whatever. “I just want to get this over with. Besides, don’t you have someplace to be? I thought that was the point of making this trip shorter. We get there, go our separate ways, and move on with our lives.”

Lance shrugged. “Nah, I’ve got all the time in the world.” 

Keith didn’t fail to notice that Lance was avoiding Keith’s question, but he let it slide for now. “So you’re telling me that’s it? You have no plan?”

Lance grinned. “The plan is that there is no plan! That’s what a good road trip is all about!”

“No,” Keith argued. “You can’t just run into things like this without any idea of what you’re doing. Do you even know where we’re going, or did you just throw a dart at a map?”

Lance’s cheerful demeanor quickly dimmed, and he scowled. “Oh yeah? You wanna talk about running into things without thinking things through? You have no room to talk. I bet I could’ve told you I was going anywhere and you’d have still come with me. You didn’t even tell anyone you were leaving, did you? So don’t lecture me about not having a plan, pal.”

Keith sighed. This was getting them nowhere. “Fine, so neither of us thought this through. But that’s exactly why we should just focus on getting there. No detours.”

But oh, Lance was not willing to let this go. “No, that’s exactly why we need detours! Neither of us has a place to be. It’s just us, the shit we have stuffed in our bags, and a truck. We’re never going to have the opportunity to see this much of the country again. Unless you’re planning on making a spontaneous road trip with a stranger a yearly thing?”

Keith groaned in frustration. “No, you’re not getting it! We’re not two friends looking for something to do over spring break. We don’t even know each other. Why are you trying so hard to spend more time with me?”

Lance rolled his eyes. “I’m _not_ trying to spend more time with you, believe me. Having you here is an unfortunate side effect to wanting gas money and someone to drive while I sleep. But if you’re planning on ruining this for me, I’ll gladly just take you back home and go back to making this trip alone.”

Keith was about to bite back and tell him he’d rather _be_ home right about now, but hesitated. Sure, this was clearly a terrible idea, and neither of them had any clue what they were doing. But at the same time, Keith did this for a reason. After all of this, could he really go back home? Could he go back to the monotony that he had come to know? It was like there was a voice in his head cheering him on this whole time, and now it was telling him that he would always regret it if he quit now.

Keith sighed. “Fine. You can go to your dumb tourist attractions, but don’t expect me to tag along with you.”

“Keith, come on,” Lance protested. “I get that you get off on being a buzzkill, but would it kill you to have some fun?”

“Forget it, Lance.”

Lance sighed and went quiet. Keith prayed to any god out there that that would be the end of that.

“Keith, why did you come with me?”

God hated Keith.

“That’s none of your business,” Keith snapped.

“Dude, chill,” Lance replied. “I’m not asking for your life story here. I just wanna know what made you think driving to wherever with a stranger was a good idea.”

Keith thought about it. Why did he come? He didn’t need Lance in order to go somewhere else. Sure, he couldn’t drive, but he could have easily afforded a train or plane ticket. Nothing was keeping him in California. He could leave whenever he wanted to.

And yet, he hadn’t.

Why hadn’t he gotten his driver’s license? He had never mentioned wanting it, and even when his parents asked him, he told them he preferred to walk. Which indicated that he _could_ walk to anywhere he planned on being. He didn’t need something to take him far away, because as much as he saw it in some hypothetical vision of the future...he had never actually made any attempt to leave.

Watching Lance storm out of his house with nothing but a bag on his shoulders was the most jarring thing Keith had ever seen. As if it was just that _easy_. As if he could just walk out one day and not come back. People didn’t just do that. But Lance did.

And now, Keith did.

Finally, he responded, “I wanted to do something new. Something exciting.”

Tension seemed to leave Lance’s shoulders as he relaxed further into the driver’s seat. He smiled almost fondly. “Exactly. Look, if you’re really not into it, then you don’t have to come with me. I’m not gonna force you or anything. But when are you really gonna have this chance again? If you’re here for something exciting, I can’t imagine passing up the chance to see what’s along the way.”

His eyes melted into a faraway stare. Lance didn’t seem to be talking to Keith now so much as he was to himself. “And honestly? We really don’t have a plan...so what are we gonna do when we get there? How can we expect to make the right choice when we haven’t even seen what else is out there? This is the chance to actually figure out what comes next.”

Well. Keith didn’t have anything to say to that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am I projecting onto Lance and Keith? Of course not.
> 
>    
> If you're super feeling this or super _not_ feeling this you could always [come let me know on tumblr](https://zurela.tumblr.com/), and even give suggestions if you're feeling it? I have a basic outline for this already made up, but I am very much from the midwest and have no idea what shenanigans these two could get into on their journey through the south aside from what Google tells me.


	3. 7:51 on a Friday Evening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith are not each other's biggest fans. Also, it's time for diver's ed! That's bound to go well.

After their argument, Lance was left with a sense of satisfaction in his ability to convince Keith to join him on his spontaneous adventure. While Keith and Lance had never met before, it still felt nice to have someone to join him on this trip. There was only so much fun someone could have on their own, especially when the majority of the time is spent staring down endless stretches of highway. Given the circumstances, he hadn’t been expecting a particularly exciting road trip, but why look a gift horse in the mouth?

It was unfortunate, then, that Lance’s heartfelt speech was followed by hours of nonstop driving. Their first stop, Keith had decided, wouldn’t be until the Grand Canyon, which they wouldn’t arrive at until the next morning. That left Lance and Keith trapped in a car for at least another twelve hours, and they had seemed to burn up any hopes of casual conversation fairly quickly.

Luckily for Lance, his phone was included in one of the few things he remembered to grab in his mad rush out of his house. Keith may have been determined to suck the fun out of everything, but there was no way Lance was going to drive for the next five days in complete silence. Lance maneuvered his hand into his back pocket to pull out his phone while managing to not drive them off the road.

Keith was leaned up against the window and hadn’t said a word in over an hour. Lance anticipated that Keith was asleep, so it came as a surprise when Keith suddenly flipped over at the sound of him moving. 

“Are you texting while driving?” Keith asked with an unimpressed look. “I’m not going to survive this trip, am I.” It didn’t sound like a question.

Lance ignored his teasing and continued to one-handedly plug his phone in and open his music library. “Chill, Keith. I’m just trying to put on some music. If I have to drive in total silence for much longer, I’m definitely going to fall asleep. And since you’re clearly not one for conversation, this is the next best thing.”

Keith huffed and rolled back over. “Fine.”

Finally finding what he was looking for, Lance grinned as “Spice Up Your Life” started blaring out of the speakers. Keith rolled back over with an even angrier look.

“Seriously? What is this?”

Lance’s grin only grew. The Spice Girls were a gift on their own, but bothering Keith only made this better. “Don’t disrespect the Spice Girls!” Lance exclaimed. “That’s immediate grounds for getting kicked out of the car!”

Keith sighed. “Could you at least turn on something less...obnoxious?” Keith asked, though his voice could barely be heard over the blasting music.

“Sorry man, this playlist has a severe lack of My Chemical Romance, so it looks like you’re out of luck.” Lance moved to elbow Keith in the side, but Keith somehow wormed his way against the door so that Lance couldn’t touch him.

“My Chemical Romance is a great band, how dare you!” Keith exploded. Lance was impressed, he didn’t think Keith could yell that loudly.

He only laughed in response, so Keith grumbled and flipped back over to face the window, but seemed to let the issue go. For now, at least.

_

“Lance, I gotta pee.”

“Keith, we just stopped like half an hour ago.”

“I drank a lot of water today!”

“I don’t care, I’m not stopping. We have a long way to go. Just pee out the window or something, there’s no cars around!”

“I am _not_ peeing out the window.”

“Well then you’re shit outta luck, my friend.”

“We’re not friends.”

“Whatever. Doesn’t change the fact that you’re screwed.”

“Come _on_ , just stop for like two minutes. I’ll just go on the side of the road.”

“Not a chance. I think I have an old empty water bottle in the back, just use that.”

“Are you being an ass just to make me miserable?”

“You know it.”

“Fuck you. One of us is gonna end up forgetting what’s in that bottle and drinking it.”

“I bet it’ll be you.”

“Shut up, it’ll definitely be you.”

“Wanna bet?”

“Bet on who’s gonna be the first to drink my piss? Absolutely.”

“Loser owes the winner $20?”

“Isn’t it enough of a loss that the loser has to drink pee?”

“Nope.”

“Fine. It’s a bet.”

_

“Keith. Hey. Keith. Keith. Keith-”

“ _What_ , Lance?”

“Wanna play I spy?”

“No, I do not want to play I spy.”

“Hmm, okay...what about the alphabet game?”

“What even is the alphabet game?”

“You know, the alphabet game! We both have to look for each letter of the alphabet on signs and license plates and stuff. First person to get through the entire alphabet wins.”

“That sounds like the dumbest thing ever.”

“You sound like the dumbest thing ever.”

“Great, glad you think so. Can I go back to sleep now?”

“Fine, whatever loser. I’ll play the alphabet game by myself, and then you’ll see how much fun it is.”

“Mhm.”

_

After the fourth of fifth time Lance started to nod off, it was abundantly clear that he needed to get off the road before he killed both of them.

Which meant…

“Welcome to driver’s ed!”

Keith stood before Lance with his arms crossed, while Lance struck a pose in front of his truck that was now parked along the side of the highway.

“I’d like to make it clear once again that this is the worst idea ever.”

Lance marched over to meet Keith and wrap an arm around his shoulders, which was promptly removed. “Finally we agree on something! But I’m exhausted, so unless you want to snuggle up with me in the back of the car, this is our only option.”

Thus begun the worst driving lesson ever.

“Okay, it’s easy. The brake is on the left, the gas pedal is on the right. This,” Lance twisted from his position in the passenger seat to grab the gear shift, “is how you change gears. Right now it is in park. Put your foot on the brake and move it to drive.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “You don’t need to talk to me like I’m an idiot. Just because I don’t know how to drive doesn’t mean I haven’t been in a car before.”

Lance backed off and lifted his hands in a placating gesture. “Alright, alright, since you’re clearly a genius I’ll just leave this to you.”

“Shut up, you know that’s not what I meant.”

Lance pointed an accusing finger in Keith’s face. “Then don’t patronize me! I am the teacher here! Now, once the car is in drive, take your foot off the brake and merge back onto the road.” Keith did as he was told and was met with the sound of a horn as a car whirred past them.

Lance yelped and glared at Keith. “You need to check for other cars first!”

“Well, you didn’t tell me that!” Keith argued.

“Why wouldn’t you know to look for other cars? You just told me not to treat you like an idiot!”

“Shut up, this is new for me!”

“Okay, okay,” Lance sighed. “ _Check for cars_ , then merge onto the road.”

This time, Keith was extra careful to examine his surroundings. Though Lance had driven for a while, the sun hadn’t quite set and seemed to wash the world around them in a glowing orange. Aside from the semi that had almost crashed into them, the road was otherwise empty. Time seemed to stand still here, and if Lance weren’t here Keith would have been perfectly content to just crawl into the bed of the truck and watch the sky change.

Unfortunately, now was not the time for that. Realizing that the road was clear, Keith’s second attempt at merging was more successful. Lance finally let out a sigh that let the tension in his shoulders out with it. “Okay, now just stay within the road lines and...drive. Don’t worry about changing highways or anything, we’re gonna be on this one for a while. I’m going to sleep. Don’t wake me up unless we need to stop or you’re dying.”

“Alright then,” Keith agreed. While Lance rolled over, Keith hit the gas and buckled down for a long drive.

Sleep was apparently far away for Lance, as he turned right back over to glare at Keith. “Hey speed racer, are you trying to drive us into space?”

Keith looked over at Lance, puzzled. “What? We’re on the highway. Aren’t I supposed to drive fast?”

Lance threw his arms up in exasperation. “Speed limits don’t just stop existing on the highway! We’re gonna get pulled over, or _killed_!”

Keith turned to glare at Lance. “Stop yelling at me! It’s not my fault that your idea of a driving lesson is to just tell me to get on the road and drive! I thought you were the teacher, aren’t you supposed to teach me how to do this?”

Lance whirled his head to look forward. “Keith, keep your eyes on the road!”

Keith turned his attention back forward just in time to see the car drift off the side of the highway and onto the bumpy earth beside them. He lifted both legs off the ground and onto the seat while Lance grabbed the steering wheel and turned it back towards the road, then pulled the emergency brake.

He huffed out a breath and then turned to face Keith. “Well, congratulations. This car is older than I am and yet that’s the first time it’s ever gotten any use out of the emergency brake.”

Keith turned on Lance. “It’s not my fault!” he accused. “You didn’t tell me anything, and you keep yelling at me! I’ve never driven before and you expect me to just be perfect at this?”

Lance rolled his eyes.”Well sorrrrrrry,” he deadpanned. “I thought a genius like you could handle such a simple task. Apparently I was mistaken.”

“That’s it, I’m done,” Keith announced, pushing the door of the car open and removing his seatbelt. “I’m out of here.” And with that, he jumped from his seat and slammed the door behind him.

He only made it a few steps before Lance stumbled out of the passenger’s side and stormed after him. “So that’s how it’s gonna be? You’re just gonna walk home from here?”

“Yup.”

“You realize we’ve been driving for hours, right? The closest thing to civilization is a gross truck stop that’s miles from here.”

“Don’t care.”

Lance stopped, but Keith still kept his pace up. “You’re probably just going to go die in the desert! And it’ll be all your fault, not mine!”

“That’s great, Lance.”

Lance went quiet. Keith was tempted to look back, but refused to let himself stop. He didn’t even have any of his stuff. This was clearly a terrible idea, but he would rather trek down a desert highway than stay locked in a car with Lance for another minute.

This whole thing had been a stupid idea. Obviously he couldn’t just _leave_. He would go back to living his same life with his parents, and he could move out when he was ready. Not on a spur of the moment impulse with nothing but a backpack stuffed with necessities and an annoying stranger to accompany him. He wasn’t meant for this. Keith felt tears sting his eyes, but refused to let them fall.

“Keith, I’m sorry.”

At that, Keith did stop, but still didn’t turn around. Lance’s voice was barely audible, yet Keith was positive he hadn’t misheard.

Lance took this as a sign to continue. “I know I’m being difficult. I know I can’t be easy to get along with, and honestly, you’re kind of driving me crazy too.”

Keith sighed. “Wow, you’re doing a great job at convincing me to stay.”

“Shut up, I’m trying to say something,” he sighed. “Look, I get it, we clearly don’t like each other. But we also both need each other to get where we’re going. If you try to walk back by yourself, you’re gonna die out here. And I’m too tired to drive right now, so I’m gonna end up driving off the road or getting murdered while sleeping in my car. If you really want to go, I can’t stop you, but...I can’t take you back. I have to keep going. And I don’t really think you want to go either, even if you do hate me. I promise I’ll teach you how to drive, _actually_ teach you, and I won’t yell. Just please, please come back to the car?”

Keith turned and saw Lance staring down at the ground, refusing to look at him. His voice somehow went even softer, and Keith had to strain to hear him. “I just...don’t want to make this trip alone,” he murmured.

Keith sighed and combed his hands through his hair. This guy was going to be the death of him. Finally, he walked back to Lance and put a hand on his shoulder. Lance’s head sprang up to look him in the eyes, and Keith could see tears threatening to spill over onto his cheeks.

Keith tightened his grip on Lance’s shoulder. “You drive me absolutely insane, and you’re a horrible teacher. I think we’re both tired, and we’ve been stuck together for a long time. We don’t even _know_ each other. But...I guess we’re both just gonna have to get used to it.”

Lance hesitated for a moment and gave Keith a puzzled look. Suddenly, he brightened. “Really? You’ll get back in the car?”

Keith sighed and shook his head, but he couldn’t fight off a small smile. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but yes. Let’s go. Teach me to drive, _properly_ this time.”

Lance straightened and saluted, a bright smile quickly taking over the frown that was there previously. “Yes sir, Keith, sir!”

Keith rolled his eyes and grabbed the sleeve of Lance’s jacket, dragging him back to the truck.

Their second driving lesson went more successfully than the first. Keith remained calm, and Lance was more deliberate in his explanations of what to do. They even found themselves laughing on occasion, and were soon back on the road with Keith sitting confidently behind the wheel. Lance rolled over to try and sleep once again, but was interrupted once more by Keith.

“So, since I’m driving now, I get to pick the music, right?”

Lance flipped back over to glare at Keith. “That was not part of the agreement!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could have easily written a million scenes just of Lance and Keith bugging the shit out of each other, but I figured I would spare you guys from that.
> 
> Also, [come follow me on tumblr](https://zurela.tumblr.com/) if you wanna see me talk about how much I love Lance and talk about a billion klance AU's that I'll probably never write :)


	4. 5:38 on a Saturday Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cars get crashed. Fights get fought. Things may or may not be okay.

Not long had Keith been driving before the sun finally set, pulling the sky through a rainbow of bright gold, to a dull lilac, and finally into a faded blue that continued to darken. Now the sky was almost fully dark, and the only sounds came from the hum of the engine and Lance’s labored breathing in the passenger’s seat. Keith figured he could have taken control of the radio once Lance fell asleep, but there was something peaceful about the quiet that accompanied the transition of the sky that felt wrong to break.

While it seemed like a bad idea to drive at night after only learning to drive a few hours previous, there were fewer cars on the road now. And Keith was still fairly alert after his nap earlier, so it didn’t seem fair to wake Lance to drive again after only a bit of sleep. Besides, they seemed to have come to a truce, and that could be broken very quickly if they were both awake. It was better to just enjoy this moment of peace while it lasted.

The downside to being left alone in the quiet, however, was that it left Keith with plenty of opportunity to think, and he certainly had a lot to think about. Now that there was no turning back, it was difficult to avoid playing out future scenarios in his head. Sure, they had a plan to go to Virginia, but what about after that? 

Lance said he wasn’t going back, and Keith didn’t think he could return either. He would need a place to live, somewhere cheap if he was going to afford living alone. He had saved up some money, but he would need to find a job quickly in order to get by. And then what? Where would he live, where would he work? Would he go to school or settle down somewhere? Not to mention the fact that he would need to either furnish an apartment or go back for the rest of his stuff.

Oh god, and that brought up thoughts of going back and facing his parents. Would they be mad that he left, or glad that he was finally going his own way? They would most certainly initially be mad, since they more than likely thought he was dead or kidnapped or something. Sure, he could call them, but…

Keith let his eyes drift backwards for a second to the backseat where his backpack was. There, in the side pocket, was his phone. He had turned it off when they left, and had yet to turn it back on. Of course, he would have to eventually. There would probably be a flood of missed calls and voicemails wondering where he was and, later, panicking. It wasn’t fair to his family to leave them unsure like this, but Keith still couldn’t bring himself to face reality again. 

As long as he was in this truck with Lance, the rest of the world momentarily stopped existing. It almost felt like his actions had no real consequences, that this was just some fantasy that wasn’t really happening. Turning on his phone meant accepting what he had done.

The phone stayed off.

_

After stopping for gas and something to eat, it was Lance’s turn to drive again until they reached the Grand Canyon. With a few hours of some decent sleep and a full stomach, the idea of a few more hours of driving didn’t feel so daunting.

Lance had insisted on keeping the music on while he drove, but eventually compromised and agreed to turn it down low enough that Keith could sleep. While he hadn’t driven long, Keith was still exhausted and relished the few hours he could rest before his inevitable future of being dragged around the Grand Canyon with Lance.

So excuse him for being a little irritable when he was awoken by the car spinning across the highway and crashing into a guardrail.

He was jolted awake by the sound of a horn, then left to decipher a world that was spinning uncontrollably. Finally, the world came to a halt, and he took a moment to gather his bearings. “What the hell happened?” he shouted and turned to Lance, who seemed frozen, staring into space.

Lance let out a shaky breath. “Shit…” He turned to Keith, just suddenly seeming to remember that he wasn’t alone in the car. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. What happened? Did you fall asleep? Are you okay?”

Lance still seemed to be struggling to catch his breath. “I just...I guess I got distracted. Zoned out thinking about other shit, then all of a sudden there was a truck driving straight toward me.”

Keith took a moment to process that before turning to punch Lance in the arm. “Seriously? You weren’t even paying attention to the road? God, you really are trying to get us killed!”

The look of shock finally left Lance’s face and was quickly replaced by one of annoyance. “I’m sorry, okay? I zoned out, it was a mistake.”

A humorless laugh escaped Keith. “Yeah, it was a mistake. Just like trusting you was a mistake.”

Lance bent to lean his head against the steering wheel for a moment before pushing back to glare at Keith. “I said I was sorry!” he snapped. “And I’m getting really sick of you blaming me for everything.”

“Because everything that goes wrong is your fault!” Keith scoffed. “Of course I blame you! You’re a terrible driver, you don’t have a plan for this trip at all, you did a shit job of teaching me to drive. I mean, this whole thing started because of you! You got into a stupid fight with someone and now you’re running away from it. And then you dragged me into it because you couldn’t just control your temper and, you know, _not_ throw shit out the window!”

Lance opened his mouth to argue back, but closed it again. Instead, he just sighed. “Whatever,” he muttered. “Let’s just get out of here, and once we get to the Grand Canyon you can find your own way home. I’m gonna go make sure the truck is okay.”

He pushed the door open and jumped out, slamming it behind him. That plan was just fine with Keith. Clearly he and Lance couldn’t get along for long enough to get anywhere. They would go their separate ways and forget about all of this. Keith had been full of regret and anxiety this whole time, but now he was just mad. Lance clearly was too. There was no way they could’ve lasted days in the car together when it had barely been 12 hours yet.

Keith was startled by the sound of the door being thrown open and turned to see Lance lean across the seat from outside the driver’s side. He turned the key in the ignition, only to be met with dull clicks. Lance pushed his hands through his hair and groaned in frustration “The front got pretty busted up,” he sighed, refusing to meet Keith’s eyes. “I’m gonna have to call for help.”

Before Keith could respond, Lance grabbed his phone and threw the door shut once again. Keith leaned back against the window and let his forehead fall against the glass. Leave it to Lance to break the car. Keith had only learned to drive a few hours hours ago, and yet he had driven better than Lance had.

A few minutes later, Lance climbed back into the car, shutting himself inside this time. He crossed his arms with a sigh and turned to look out the window. “Someone can come get us, but it’ll be a few hours. Apparently breaking down in the middle of the desert isn’t ideal.”

Keith chuckled. “Oh really? Being trapped in the desert for hours with a reckless idiot isn’t ideal? Yeah, I’d have to say I agree.”

Lance shut his eyes and slumped against the window. “Please, Keith, I don’t want to fight right now. Let’s just sit here and wait for the tow truck. You can go back to sleep, or whatever. I don’t care, just stop yelling at me.”

Keith spun to glare at Lance despite the fact that Lance couldn’t see him. “No, I think I will keep yelling! You messed up, and now you have to deal with the consequences.”

Lance pushed himself up and turned to Keith, eyes red and watering. “I know I messed up, okay? You’re right, this whole thing was a mistake. I’m sorry you got dragged into this. I ruin everything, and because of that we’re stuck here. Is that what you want to hear? Because I get it. I _know_ I’m an idiot. You’re not the first person who couldn’t put up with me. Why do you think I left?”

Keith was taken aback. “I...I didn’t mean it like-”

“Yeah, you did mean it like that. You meant to make me feel bad, and you’re angry at me, so you yelled. I get it. I have to deal with the consequences, like you said. Well guess what, Keith!” he threw his arms out wildly. “Here are the consequences! I’m here, trapped in the desert with only a shitty old broken truck, a bag of my stuff, and some guy who insists on yelling at me over every little thing. So I guess we’re both being punished!” Lance seemed to be getting frantic now. “We both left, and this is what we get for it! And here I am, dealing with it, so you can stop lecturing me about it!”

Lance punctuated his statement by punching the steering wheel, startling Keith as the horn sounded. Lance kept his head down towards his lap and arm braced against the wheel, but Keith could see the tears streaming down his face.

Keith felt himself soften and he reached over to put a hand on Lance’s back. “Look,” he started. “I don’t know why you left, so I’m sorry. That was out of line. All of it was. I’m just frustrated because this wasn’t going like I expected it to, so I took it out on you.”

Lance laughed and squeezed his eyes shut. “And how exactly did you expect this to go? Because compared to what I was imagining, we’re doing pretty damn well.”

Keith chuckled in response in an attempt to ease some of the tension. “I guess you’re right. Considering you let me drive for hours without supervision, I’m surprised we’re even alive right now.”

Lance laughed again, only this time it didn’t die away. Instead, it kept building into something hysterical, until Lance was doubled over laughing while tears streamed from his face again.

Keith leaned back, but didn’t yet remove his hand from Lance’s back out of fear that he might explode if he wasn’t held in place. “Lance? You...okay there?”

The maniacal laughter didn’t stop for even a second, and Lance pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes. “It’s just,” he giggled. “We’re really out here! This is really happening!”

Lance turned to look directly into Keith’s eyes, making Keith instinctively flinch back.

“We’re just two teenagers who ran away from home. We don’t even know each other! And we’ve been driving around in the desert for hours, like it’s just a thing to do! And now here we are, trapped in the middle of nowhere, yelling at each other like idiots. Because we are! We’re idiots who just got in a car and started driving!”

Keith hesitated, then started to laugh himself. They really were huge idiots. Neither of them had any clue what they were doing, but that sure as hell didn’t stop them from pretending they did. 

Finally, the laughter died out, they were left just staring at each other. For a moment, all they could do was observe each other in all their disastrous glory. Lance’s eyes were bloodshot, with tear tracks leading down his face. Both were in need of a shower, hair tangled and mussed by sleep. They were just one huge mess.

Lance smiled lazily. “Come on, we’re still gonna be stuck here for a while. Might as well get out of this cramped truck.”

Thus found the two of them laying in the bed of Lance’s truck, watching the sky change as the sun rose above them, bringing the rest of the world back to life.

“Keith...” Lance started. Keith didn’t dare respond.

Lance seemed to deflate. “I don’t have anywhere to go.”

Keith sighed. “I know.”

“I won’t blame you if you leave,” he continued. “You have somewhere to go back to. Heck, I’d leave if I were you.”

Keith contemplated that for a moment. A few clouds lazily drifted by, and a bird passed overhead.

“I’m not entirely sure that I do,” he answered. “I mean, if I went back, I guess I don’t think I would be turned away. But I don’t think that’s the same thing. I think maybe I don’t have anywhere to go either. But I also think maybe that’s not a bad thing.”

Neither of them spoke for a moment. Lance broke the silence as he stretched, then turned to face away from Keith. He turned his head back up for a moment. “Come on, let’s go to sleep. We might as well both get some rest while we’re able.”

Lance’s head fell back to the side. Keith smiled and turned the opposite way, letting his eyes fall closed.

The tow truck driver found them in that exact same spot a few hours later, both of them bathed in a soft pink light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm an emotional mess who loves when these characters I love are also emotional messes.
> 
> [Also I have a tumblr in case you didn't know that yet](https://zurela.tumblr.com/). I get pretty happy when people go there and talk to me about these characters I love and/or being an emotional mess.


	5. 6:49 on a Saturday Evening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for a trip to the Grand Canyon! Heck yeah!

Somehow, Keith had found himself agreeing to stay on this road trip despite everything that had happened so far. It was strange, honestly, because he was starting to imagine himself finishing this and being in Virginia. Before they crashed, all he could think of was home. But now it felt like he would actually see this through. That wasn’t a bad feeling.

Since Lance’s truck had to be repaired, Keith and Lance were left with a few hours to keep themselves entertained at the Grand Canyon.

And Lance was all too happy about that.

“Keith! Let’s go white water rafting!”

“Lance, that costs $900.”

“Let’s take a helicopter ride!”

“How is a helicopter going to be cheaper than white water rafting?!”

It didn’t take long for the two of them to realize that any money they had would be saved for gas, food, and now, truck repairs. Keith had thought being reminded of their crash earlier (along with the fact that they were broke) would get Lance’s spirits down, but he seemed to take the whole thing in stride. After his earlier explosion, there was question of whether it was an act, but Keith thought it best not to spoil the good mood.

After all, it was a nice day, they were at one of the greatest natural wonders of the world, and it seemed the two of them had formed some sort of tentative friendship. Maybe it was because they had finally gotten some decent sleep, but regardless, Keith wasn’t going to look this gift horse in the mouth.

Even without the thrill of helicopters and white water rafting, Lance was practically bursting at the seams with excitement. He had confessed to Keith on the way here that he had always dreamed of visiting the Grand Canyon, and despite living only a day’s drive away, had never actually been. He was like a kid in a candy store as he dragged Keith all over the park, from the market, to the geology museum, to the cheesy bus tour of different photo spots.

Not to say that Keith wasn’t having fun, either. While he had never had the same dreams of seeing what he had always believed to be a glorified desert, now that he was here there was no denying its beauty. Keith had always been fascinated by the natural world, and realized he would have regretted it immensely if he had never seen this.

After hours of exploring and being constantly surrounded by people and information, the two of them decided to spend their evening on a more relaxed hike along part of the rim. As late afternoon turned to early evening, the park seemed to clear out as people retreated to restaurants and their campsites. Thus, Keith and Lance found themselves mostly alone while they ambled along the path in relative silence.

They were both starting to feel tired and overwhelmed from the long day, so the quiet was welcomed. It was a stark contrast to the cold tension of this morning; instead, it was a comfortable calm that neither felt the need to break. After a few miles of walking, Keith suddenly realized that he no longer heard the mismatched footsteps accompanying his.

Spinning frantically, he tried to figure out how far back he had lost Lance, only to realize Lance was only a few feet behind him. Before Keith could even voice a question, Lance was already answering it.

“Come on, this spot looks nice. Let’s just stop here for a few minutes We...we need to talk about some stuff.”

Keith wordlessly followed Lance and sat down next to him, though Lance didn’t acknowledge him, instead staring off into the scenic horizon.

“I’m sorry I crashed the car earlier.”

Keith sighed and looked down to his feet. After a pleasant day together, without even a single fight, he hadn’t anticipated they would be having this conversation.

“It’s okay, it’s over with, you don’t-”

“I do,” Lance interrupted. “I need to explain what happened...and why I left home in the first place.”

Keith couldn’t bring himself to object again. On the one hand, it really was none of his business. Well, maybe the reason for driving into oncoming traffic was, but he had already accepted that they were going to just let it go. On the other hand, though, he couldn’t deny his own curiosity.

“I’ve been thinking about this all day” Lance continued. “I’m sorry I freaked out earlier, and for causing you to get wrapped up in all my issues. I know,” Lance interceded before Keith could voice his objection, “that you’re over it, or whatever. But it’s been bugging me and you deserve to know this stuff. I’m sure you’ll find out eventually anyways, once my family realizes I’m not coming back and goes on a man hunt for me.”

Lance inhaled deeply, then slowly let it out through his nose, clearly trying to keep his composure. He hesitated, seeming unsure of where to start.

“Do you know how it feels to love and yet despise someone?”

Keith nodded even though Lance wasn’t looking at him.

“I want to start off by saying that I love my family. Unconditionally, and I always will, I think. Unless someone really does something terrible, but. Anyways. I really love them. You live right next door, I know you see how many of us there are. And how loud we are. They’re all so wild, and caring, and fun, and I really do love them. But…”

Lance sighed and let his back roll downwards until he was laying on the ground. Keith kept his eyes carefully trained forward.

“It’s hard, too. Living with so many people. And we’re all so different. Families fight, you know? I get it. We all get it, and we fight all the time but we get over it. But sometimes we don’t fight. Sometimes we hold these things inside of us and start to resent each other for it over time until we can’t stand to look at each other anymore. That’s when the big fights happen.

“I guess that’s what this was. Something small that I started feeling that just got to be too much. The thing is, I have a lot of siblings who have done a lot of great things with their lives, and I’m so proud of all of them, but sometimes it’s a lot to live up to.”

Keith pondered on that for a moment. He had always wanted siblings, someone else to divert some of his parents’ attention. Maybe Lance had been wishing for what he had for a while now, too.

“So I’ve been pretty hard on myself lately,” Lance continued. “I just graduated high school and didn’t have a plan. Sometimes making decisions is so hard that the easiest thing to do is nothing. So that’s what I did. I told my parents that I was still searching for a job or a school I wanted, but honestly, I took comfort in not making a choice. All I’ve ever wanted was to please them, and it felt like no matter what I chose, it wouldn’t be the right thing. So I couldn’t fail if I never even tried.”

Now that, Keith could relate to. 

“I think eventually I started to pin that on my parents. Every criticism from them felt like an insult, and every mention of my siblings felt like some sort of dig at my own choices. So finally, my mom came to my room to give me a letter from some college. She started talking about me going away to school, maybe studying medicine like my big brother, and I just...exploded.”

Lance sighed again, more uneven and shaken this time. Keith could tell he was crying, but still refused to look back. Lance needed to let this out.

“I said some horrible things to her, and she said some pretty horrible things back. We were both just trying to hurt each other at that point. She was the one who started throwing my things out the window. She said if I didn’t want to be there then I could just leave.”

Keith inwardly cringed. He had earlier accused Lance of throwing things because he had no control over his temper. Now he felt crushing guilt at the thought of reminding Lance of such a horrible experience, and then _blaming_ him for it.

“So I did that. I packed up my stuff and left, and I told her I wasn’t coming back. I don’t think she believed me, and probably won’t realize I wasn’t exaggerating in a few days. I’m sure at that point my phone will be ringing nonstop.”

Lance sniffled, then cleared his throat and sat back up. He wouldn’t meet Keith’s eyes, but sat slightly closer to him than before. Keith pretended not to notice his watery eyes and trembling lip.

“So that’s what I was thinking about earlier when we crashed. It was like...a meltdown or something. I was driving, and I just drifted off thinking about our fight, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how absolutely _guilty_ I felt, and how stupid I was for leaving like that. Next thing I knew, there was a truck headed straight for us.”

Keith decided he finally needed to voice his thoughts, because maybe Lance just needed to hear someone say it to him. “You know, I’m sure your mother would let you come back, even after a fight like that. If you guys love each other the way you say you do, I can’t imagine she would turn you away.”

Lance coughed out a watery chuckle. “I don’t think she would either. But that wasn’t really what I meant when I said I had no place to go back to. Even if I did go back, it would just be more of the same. We would forgive each other, sure, but nothing would really be different. I know I have to do something with my life eventually. I guess I thought I’d have more than a few minutes to make that choice,” he laughed.

“I know what you mean,” Keith interrupted. Lance turned to him with a blank expression. Keith folded his legs up and rested his chin on top of his knees. “When you came outside and said you were going to Virginia with nothing but that bag, I was floored.”

Lance laughed, and Keith grinned despite himself. “Seriously. I couldn’t believe you were just… _leaving_. Like it was that easy, and I could’ve done that all along. I get what you mean, being afraid of trying something new. There’s a million different possibilities, so how could we be expected to just pick something? But I think that’s the point. You _have_ to just pick something because otherwise there’s no way to know what’s right or wrong.”

Lance didn’t respond, so the two of them just stared at the canyon as it grew increasingly orange with the setting sun. Suddenly, Lance laughed.

“Man, we’ve lived next door to each other for what, ten years? And we’ve never spoken to each other before yesterday.”

Keith turned to Lance with a puzzled expression. “Yeah? So?”

“It’s just,” he chuckled, “if we had talked to each other before then, I bet we would’ve worked all of this shit out before we just skipped town like a couple of criminals.”

“Please,” Keith scoffed. “If we had talked before yesterday, we would’ve hated each other. Heck, we did hate each other until a few hours ago. Don’t flatter yourself. We would’ve never been friends otherwise.”

Lance laughed. “That’s probably true. I guess I should be grateful that we’re friends now, then.”

“Yeah you should.”

“You’re actually kinda smart, Keith.”

Keith smirked. “Hell yeah I am.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am I ever gonna write what I planned for a chapter? Nope. But I like how this one turned out, so I guess that's fine. And this one is a little short, but I'm pretty sure the next one will be longer to make up for it.
> 
> Also, I don't wanna spoil _too_ much, but next chapter my boys are gonna be in Texas. Say, who's from Texas again? 
> 
> Anyways, once again, [I love when people come hang out with me on tumblr](https://zurela.tumblr.com/)! I've been mostly working on this right now but after this I'm gonna start something new immediately, so prompts are always welcomed. Or, you know, if you wanna come yell at me because it's already chapter 5 and they're not in love yet. No pre-established relationship, we slow burn like men.
> 
> And thanks for all the love I've gotten on this so far! I worry a lot that my writing isn't that good, but you guys are so friendly and encouraging and it makes me that much more excited to write more!


	6. 3:28 on a Sunday Afternoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith finally make it to Texas, and Keith wants to make a quick stop.
> 
> That's right, y'all, it's time for a family reunion.

After the crash, the Grand Canyon, and Lance’s confession, it seemed Keith and Lance had finally begun to understand each other better. They picked up Lance’s truck on Saturday night and continued on into New Mexico.

Since then, they had yet to fight even once. Lane had finally given Keith some control over the radio, and Keith humored Lance every now and then by giving in and playing one of his road trip games. The only other stop they had made so far was in Albuquerque, but they only spent a few hours at some local tourist destinations before they were back on the road.

Lance lost the bet and had to give Keith $20. Keith decided to invest some of it it in a bottle of lemonade for Lance just to rub dirt in the wound. 

Overall, they had finally worked through whatever tension had been there for the past day and were finally beginning to enjoy themselves. Something was still eating at Keith, though, and a pit of stress had taken residence in his stomach. As they passed through New Mexico and into Texas, that worry only grew.

Lance had only started his turn to drive a little over two hours ago before Keith interrupted him. “Hey Lance? Mind if I drive for a little bit? There’s someplace I want to stop.”

Lance had not been expecting that, and he wasn’t afraid to let Keith know it. After enough pestering, he had finally concluded that Keith wasn’t going to tell him where they were going and was doing whatever he could to annoy him about it.

“Keith wants to make a tourist stop? I never thought I’d see the day. What could possibly be so important that the great Keith Kogane decides it’s worth seeing?”

After that had failed to get a rise out of him, Lance turned to wild speculation.

“I bet you have a secret girlfriend in Texas and now we’re going to go save her from her boring farm life so you two can run away to the city together. No! You’re part of a cult, and you’re taking me to be sacrificed. Oh god, are you going to kill me? Are you just going to drag me out into a field and dump my body to deteriorate where I’ll never be found? Please, Keith, I’m too young to die!” Lance draped himself across Keith dramatically, only to be pushed away.

“Idiot! You’re gonna make me crash, and I swear if we run this truck off the road one more time I’m gonna _walk_ to Virginia.”

“Oh come on, Keith!” Lance goaded. “Just tell me! Honestly, what can there possibly be to see in Texas? It’s _Texas_.”

Within an hour or so after diverting from the main interstate they had been on, Keith drove them down a gravel road and put the truck in park.

“We’re here,” Keith mumbled.

“Keith,” Lance looked around, unimpressed. “Why are we at some old farmhouse?”

Keith’s face flared bright red. “You don’t have to come with me. I probably won’t be gone long.”

Keith had started to beeline for the door of the house but was stopped when Lance grabbed his arm. Keith spun around to glare at him and order him back to the car, but was quieted by Lance’s expression.

“Whatever it is, you can tell me,” he assured. “It’s okay. Why are we really here? I won’t judge or anything, even if you do have a secret farmer girlfriend.”

Keith turned bright red again and crossed his arms, glaring down at his boots. “We’re going to see my family.”

Lance paused for a moment, expression unwavering. Suddenly, he jumped back with a yelp. “Keith! You’re from _Texas_?!?!”

_

Keith stepped back after knocking on the white wooden door that led into the house they had stopped at. Lance hadn’t stopped blabbering since he found out why they were here, but Keith refused to answer him.

“How could you not tell me? I mean, look, I don’t discriminate against where people come from, of course, but this is Texas we’re talking about here. Do you hunt? Do you have a secret love of trucks? Did you grow up on a farm? Do you secretly have an accent that you refuse to talk with? _Do you say y’all???_ ”

“Lance, shut the hell up.”

“Well hey there pardner, I do reckon that’s not in the spirit of southern hospi-”

Lance’s terrible impression of a southern accent was interrupted by the click of the door opening. A balding, middle-aged man stepped out. He was wrinkled and large, but by no means did he look out of shape. If Lance had to guess, he assumed this guy was probably working outside every day, despite his age.

“How can I help y-” he began, then cut himself off. “Keith?”

Keith looked up and gave a sheepish wave. “Hi, Uncle Mike.”

This guy - Uncle Mike - was probably about to drag Keith inside and lash into him for running away. So Lance was surprised, then, when instead he just threw his head back and laughed, pulling Keith in for a hug.

“Well it sure has been a long time since you stopped by! What brings you here?”

Keith hugged his uncle back, but looked like he would rather be anywhere else. Keith cleared his throat and attempted to disguise it as a laugh. “I was just, uh, in the area. Thought I’d stop by and see you guys. Is everyone around?”

“Of course they are!” Uncle Mike bellowed. “I’m sure they’ll all be thrilled to see ya! We can have a bonfire tonight and everything. And hey, who’s your friend there?”

Lance suddenly felt like he was being observed under a microscope. All of his previous jokes and boisterous attitude vanished. “Uh hi,” he stuttered out. “I’m Lance, I’m, uh, a friend of Keith’s. I guess.”

Mike either didn’t notice his awkward behavior or didn’t care. “Well, any friend of Keith’s is a friend of ours! Welcome to the family, Lance! You’re welcome to join us for dinner!”

“That’s okay, Uncle Mike, we weren’t planning on staying for long,” Keith interrupted.

“Come on now, y’all gotta stay till dinner at least. Jeanette was planning on cooking tonight anyways, now we got a whole family reunion going! I’m not taking no for an answer, Keith.”

Keith sighed and grumbled under his breath, but regardless he seemed to relax. Surely receiving a warm welcome from his family was reassuring. Lance decided to help him out some more and threw an arm around Keith’s shoulders.

“Come on Keith, let’s stick around a while! We could use a decent meal and a shower anyways.”

Keith laughed. “Yeah, and you could stand to brush your teeth again again after drinking my piss.”

With that, Keith strided inside, with Lance stomping angrily behind him. “Hey! Not cool!”

Lance was once again talking Keith’s ear off as they walked into the kitchen. Suddenly, though, Keith disappeared from his side as he was yanked away by the ear by a woman who could only be Jeanette.

“And just what do you think you’re doing here?! Running off on your parents like that, do you know how worried they’ve been? Why I’ve gotten about a dozen phone calls from your mother asking if any of us have heard from you, and here you show up with a friend of yours looking for a meal! I swear if you don’t call your folks this instant then I will pack you up and drive you home myself! You-”

“Now hold on, Jeanie, let the boy explain himself,” Mike interrupted. “Keith, son, why is it you took off? Did you fight with your folks?”

Keith looked like he wanted nothing more than to run back to his car and drive away as fast as possible, so Lance took the lead. “Sorry about that, it was my fault!” Lance interjected. “I kinda, hah, wrecked his yard, and he came to yell at me. He just got swept up in my drama.”

“No,” Keith stated suddenly, sounding almost angry. Lance turned to see Keith looking at him as if his aunt and uncle weren’t there listening to their every word. “I made the choice to leave, just like you did. This isn’t your fault.”

Keith turned back to his relatives, who were staring at the two of them quizzically. “I left,” Keith continued, “because I wanted to. I wanted to move away and go to school or get a job or something. I just happened to run into Lance as he was leaving and went with him. I…” Keith hesitated, looking embarrassed. “I didn’t go about it in the best way, and I left my phone off because I knew my parents would yell at me and tell me to come back, but I didn’t want to go back. I didn’t know they were so worried. I’m sorry.”

Aunt Jeanette pursed her lips and looked them both over, but backed off. “Alright,” she conceded. “You’re free to make your own choices, I guess. But you do need to call your parents and let them know where you are. Of course they’re worried about you.”

“I know, I will.”

Aunt Jeanette smiled softly then, and pulled Keith in for a hug. “Well then it’s good to see you, honey. You’ve grown so much since I last saw you.” She looked over Keith’s shoulder to look at Lance. “And it’s nice to meet you as well, Lance. You’re welcome to stay with us here as long as you’d like.”

“I appreciate that, uh…”

“Oh sweetie, just call me Aunt Jeanette! We’re all family here.”

_

If Lance thought his family was loud and wild, they didn’t hold a candle to a group of Texans holding an impromptu family reunion. There were what had to be a thousand people of all ages and sizes, and they all suddenly showed up at once in Mike and Jeanette’s yard. Kids were running around with a ball, a group of older women sat relaxing in chairs and chatting, and some teenagers sped by every once in awhile in an ATV. Every so often the general racket would be punctuated by a scream or some especially raucous laughter. Even Keith seemed to be getting in on the fun.

Everyone seemed excited to talk to him, and if Lance had to guess, it seemed safe to assume that Keith hadn’t been here since he was just a kid. Not that anyone seemed to treat him like an outsider, as even kids he had likely never even met before immediately treated him like family, calling him Uncle Keith and begging him to come play with them.

Even though he seemed to be enjoying himself, Keith also looked like he had no clue what on earth was going on. Any time one of his older relatives would ask what he had been up to over the years, he would clam up and mumble out a short response, only to receive a million more questions he clearly didn’t know how to answer.

Lance also didn’t fail to notice that he would somehow avoid any talk of his parents. Most of the adults seemed to realize his hesitance and avoid the subject completely, but occasionally an uncle or cousin would ask where they were, lips loosened by alcohol. In those cases, Keith would respond with “I don’t know” or just pretend not to hear them.

Kids would run up to him and start dragging him around or talking his ear off, and he looked at them as though they were little aliens. Apparently, he wasn’t used to having a big family around. Lance, however, was totally in his element. Despite clearly looking like none of them and having just met all of them today, he quickly became another member of the family. Older relatives would ask how he knew Keith, why they were on this road trip together, what Lance was planning in Virginia. The younger kids seemed to adore him, as he knew all the right tricks and games that made his own little siblings and cousins laugh.

As the sun started to set, a group of people moved to the kitchen to cook while Mike and his brothers started piling hay and giant logs for a bonfire. Soon enough, a giant fire was roaring with most of the family gathered around, lounging in fold-up chairs or stretched out on the dry grass. The sound of children laughing echoed in the background as they ran around trying to catch fireflies. The smell of all kinds of food wafted into the yard from inside. One man had briefly left to grab a guitar, and was now sitting off to the side plucking at it mindlessly.

Lance headed over to the fire to find Keith sitting alone in the grass, gazing into the fire. Lance made his way over and sat beside him, wrapping his arms around his legs and pulling his knees to his chest.

“Not used to having so much family around, huh?” Lance asked.

“No,” Keith responded. “My parents and I are the only ones in California. We used to live here when I was a little kid. After we moved, we would occasionally make trips here or have relatives come visit. Eventually, though, we just...stopped. I don’t know why.”

Lance smiled sadly. “People change. Families change.” He wasn’t just referring to Keith.

Keith laughed. “I don’t know how you’ve lived with it for so long. They’re all so loud, and there’s just so many people. It’s absolute chaos.”

“It is chaos,” Lance agreed. He smiled fondly. “Some chaos is great though. It’s never dull around there. And it feels nice to be surrounded by people who love me, and who I love.”

Keith paused to look around the bonfire at the relaxed couples, laughing siblings, grandparents in lighthearted arguments. “It does.”

The two of them stayed that way for a while, not talking, just sitting with each other and observing all the people around them. Occasionally, Lance would steal a glance at Keith and see him looking totally content. He wondered if maybe Keith just wanted this, a family to spend time and laugh with. Even with all the craziness, he was clearly happy here. Maybe this was why he really came? He could’ve been planning this stop since the beginning.

The thought of Keith deciding to stay here was, surprisingly, a sad one. For all their arguments and differences, Lance had been really enjoying Keith’s company. But he would never voice those thoughts to Keith. It would be completely unfair to him to pressure him into going all the way to Virginia just because Lance didn’t want to be lonely. 

After all, Keith didn’t really have any business in Virginia, he had just been looking for an escape route. There was no plan after this. Here, at least, Keith had a family who cared about him, and a house to stay in, and something that he clearly missed and wanted more of.

That thought broke Lance’s heart, but he knew what he had to do. When Keith stepped away to go get food inside, Lance took the opportunity to sneak away and head for his truck. He would slip out unnoticed, and Keith could continue on from here on his own. He would be free to make his own choices, and he could be surrounded by the family that he clearly lacked in California. Then if he wanted, he could take the time to decide what he really wanted to do. It was an obvious solution.

Lance made his way back to his car and headed for the driver’s side door, pulling his keys from his pocket in the process. Before he could pull the door open, though, a voice interrupted him. “And just where do you think you’re going?”

Lance turned to see Keith standing a few feet away, arms crossed and looking very annoyed. Lance rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Ah, sorry I kinda snuck away. I was just heading out.”

“Without me?” Keith’s expression and tone gave away nothing, so Lance could only assume he was livid.

“Well...yeah. You’re clearly happy here,” Lance explained, “so you should stay. You have your family here, and a house to stay in, and lots of people who make you happy. I know you just came with me because you wanted to get away, and now you found a place that you like. So why wouldn’t you stay?”

“Do you not want me to come with you?”

“No, it’s not that, I just-”

“Come here,” Keith demanded. He walked over to the bed of the truck and hopped in, patting the side in a silent invitation for Lance to join him. Lance sighed and jumped in beside him. Keith stretched out until he was on his back, looking up at the stars. Lance moved beside him.

“Do you know why I came with you?”

“Because you were bored with California, weren’t getting along with your parents, whatever.”

“Yes, that’s true, but it’s not why I _really_ left. I mean, sure, that’s part of the reason, but it’s not the whole story.”

“Then what is the full story?”

Keith took a long, deep breath before answering. “I’ve been scared. Forever. I graduated high school, and I knew I was supposed to go away to college, get a job, whatever. Become my own person. But it was just easier to hide away from my problems. So I stayed at home with my parents. Like you said earlier, though, you can build up a lot of resentment if you don’t express what you’re feeling.”

Keith sighed and closed his eyes, so Lance moved barely closer so their shoulders were touching in an attempt at reassurance. “I know I should’ve left a long time ago. But I was being a coward. I’ve never had to take care of myself, or make my own decisions. I always did what I was told and accepted that as the right thing to do, even though I hated it. So when it came time for me to make my own choices, I just couldn’t. But then you came along.”

Keith laughed. “You just came rushing out of a house and said you were leaving. And I didn’t even think about it, I just knew I wanted to leave too. So I jumped at the chance to do something without looking for my parents’ approval first, and I loved it. When I went to leave my house, and thought for a minute maybe you had left without me, it felt like being punched in the stomach. Because I had to do this. I have to go live my own life, my own way.”

Keith rolled onto his side, then, and glared at Lance. “But then,” Keith berated, punching Lance on the shoulder, “ _you_ decide that you get to make choices for me and try to ditch me. But that’s not fair, because you didn’t even ask me.”

Lance smiled. “And you’re making your own choices now.”

“I am,” Keith agreed. “So you can drop all that shit about doing what’s right for me or deciding you know what I want. Because I get to decide what’s right for me, you ass.”

Lance laughed. “Yes, sir! No more questioning your choices, unless they’re directly related to your tastes in music.”

“Shut up,” Keith laughed. They both sat there for a few minutes, looking at the stars and the glow of the house in front of them. Suddenly, Keith leapt over the side of the truck and climbed into the backseat, coming back a few moments later and walking a few feet down the driveway. Distantly, Lance heard his voice.

“Hey, mom? It’s Keith.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is longer to make up for the shortness of the last one, and also because how could I resist writing Texan Keith? I live for this, I really do.
> 
> I've been getting really nice comments and messages and they make me happier than I can ever describe, so feel free to come talk to me more [on my tumblr!](https://zurela.tumblr.com/) It makes me super excited to keep writing, and I love hearing that you guys like this. I'm also always accepting prompts, so if you have them, send them!
> 
> Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end eventually. For this fic, if all goes according to plan (which it rarely does), there should be two chapters left, plus an epilogue. Which seems crazy, since it feels like I just started this, but I do write for it every day, so...
> 
> After that, who knows what's next? Maybe I'll take a break to work on writing other stuff, but if I get really excited about another story I wanna write, more Voltron stuff could be on the way? Maybe?


	7. 11:17 on a Monday Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith go to the woods. There's a lot of trees, with a particular abundance of pines.

Lance didn’t eavesdrop on Keith’s conversation with his mother, technically, but from his spot in the truck he couldn’t help but overhear some things. Not any specific topics, but occasionally Keith would start yelling at his mother or go quiet for a few moments only to mutter something indecipherable. While he couldn’t distinguish the words, there was no mistaking the calm fondness to Keith’s voice before he hung up.

Keith made his way back over to the truck, where Lance pretended to be too preoccupied with looking at the stars to have been paying attention to Keith’s conversation.

“Come on, we should go tell my aunt and uncle that we’re heading out.” Keith seemed to want to let the subject of his parents go, and Lance figured this was one thing he wouldn’t push him on.

“Really?” he questioned instead. “Why not just stay here for the night? We’re not in a rush, and staying in a bed would be nice.”

Keith seemed hesitant to accept, clearly eager to keep moving, so Lance gripped his shoulder in a solid embrace. “Come on. You haven’t seen these people in years. Why not stick around a little while longer?”

After a few more hours of food, laughter, and country music that Lance would avoid by shoving his hands to his ears, the two of them retired to bed for the night, Keith staying with his aunt and uncle and Lance staying with a neighboring cousin.

The next morning, they were greeted by a large breakfast, and decided it wouldn’t hurt to stay long enough to get their fill of food and another shower before hitting the road again.

Not even five minutes back on the road, and Lance declared that he could not stand anymore of Texas and that he wouldn’t be stopping until they hit Oklahoma.

“You’re gonna drive all the way across Texas on half a tank of gas?”

“Shut up! You know what I meant. Don’t get me wrong, your family was great and all, but this place is so… _Texas_.”

“Please, you haven’t even been here before. It ain’t fair to judge it like that.”

“Keith, I swear, I will throw you out of this moving car _so help me god_...”

_

Oklahoma City was more interesting than Keith had anticipated. There were a number of museums and nice outdoor areas for them to explore. The day was beautiful, the air was warm, and both of them were in high spirits after their time in with Keith’s family.

Keith couldn’t believe he was admitting it, but he was actually enjoying his time with Lance. Every time they finished up in one area of the city, he would light up and see something else he wanted to explore, grabbing Keith by the arm and pulling him every which way. Keith would yell at Lance to slow down, watch where he’s going, tease him for his enthusiasm, but there was a smile behind his jabs this time.

_

Keith was responsible for driving them from Oklahoma into Arkansas. At first, Lance had thought the drive would be too long for him, and repeatedly told Keith so, only for Keith to poke at him and tell him he could drive twice as long as Lance.

Lance had decided then to turn it into a competition, followed by everything else. While he liked messing with Keith, he also welcomed the distraction to keep Keith awake. There was now a constant underlying worry of _another_ accident.

First, they competed over who could drive the longest (Lance). Then it was who could hold their breath the longest (Keith). Who could keep their hand on the burning hot metal of the car the longest (Keith, until Lance discovered he still had his gloves on and had just wanted to see Lance burn himself). At one particular road stop, they made fools of themselves in public trying to see who could go furthest into the splits (Lance by a mile, how was he so flexible?)

Once they were on the road again, Lance even challenged him to see who could burp the loudest. Unfortunately for him, he tried too hard and ended up giving himself the hiccups. While he kicked himself for losing that one, as he could have easily beaten Keith, he couldn’t help but watch fondly as Keith broke into a fit of laughter at each of Lance’s loud hiccups.

_

Arkansas was, without a doubt, a very boring state. Lance, however, seemed very excited to be there, yet refused to tell Keith what he was planning. He had now taken over the wheel, and diverted from their intended path not long after crossing the border. Wherever they were going, it obviously wasn’t a big city, since the area around them only seemed to grow more and more remote.

Finally, when it seemed as though they were truly in the middle of nowhere, and Lance was clearly here to murder Keith and bury his body as he had accused Keith of not two days earlier, Lance put the car in park and turned to Keith with a serious look.

“Keith, my one companion in this journey that we call life-”

“We’ve known each other for 3 days-”

“I take it you’re a big city boy, yes? Even in spite of your disgusting country upbringing.”

“Hey, don’t talk about my family that way!”

“Your family was fantastic! Even in spite of the fact that they’re from the second worst state in the country, right next to our old friend Florida.”

“I feel like Indiana should be there first.”

“Fine, third worst. My point is, how much time would you say you spent outside as a kid? It doesn’t sound like your parents are the type to take you away for a weekend in the mountains or a hunting trip.”

“Uh, I guess not? We visited a few national parks when I was younger, but we always stayed in a hotel or whatever. Why do you ask?”

Lance grinned deviously. “I thought so. Keith, my friend, we are going camping!”

“What?”

Lance ignored him in favor of throwing the car back into drive, slamming the gas and effectively shutting Keith up. A few minutes later, they found themselves driving down a gravel road.

“Welcome to the Ozark National Forest!”

“Lance, I’m gonna fucking kill you. I really am.”

_

Lance let the car lazily chug down the road while Keith glared daggers at him. Neither of them spoke, their expressions saying everything they were feeling. Lance looked completely content and ignorant to Keith’s death stare.

He finally pulled into a small clearing amongst the trees, one of many in the circle of campsites. He jumped out of the car and scrambled to grab things out of the backseat while Keith crossed his arms and refused to move. Lance made his way over to the passenger side and pulled open Keith’s door.

“You plan on coming out of there anytime soon, Mr. Pouty Pants?”

Keith fixed his distant glare on Lance. “Look, I said I was on board with your tourist stops and all that. Never did I say _anything_ about camping.”

“Well that sucks, cause that’s what we’re doing.”

“You can’t make me!” 

 

“Calm down, it’s not a big deal. God forbid you actually have fun.”

“I can assure you this would not be fun.”

“Can you lighten up a bit? What’s the big deal?” Lance put his hands on his hips and rolled his eyes.

“The big deal is that I can barely trust you to keep a car on the road and follow a GPS. There is no way we could get through a night in the woods, alone, without getting killed by a bear.”

“The bears would take one look at your hair and politely decline, I think.”

Keith huffed. “Lance, give me the keys. I’ll drive if you’re tired.”

“I’m not tired, dude!” Lance was getting exasperated at this point. “I just want us to hang out in the woods! Camping is part of the life experience, just like road trips and tourism. So shut up and get out of the car.”

Keith didn’t respond, instead making a sudden grab for Lance’s pocket and knocking them both to the ground. They briefly wrestled for control over the keys, which Lance barely won. 

Before Keith could make another grab, Lance held the keys above his head. “If that’s how you’re gonna be, fine.”

Lance started making his way back over to the driver’s side, leaving Keith sagging in relief, only to turn and throw the keys into the thick woods behind them.

Keith’s eyes widened in alarm. “What the hell, dude? You just stranded us!”

Lance gave Keith an unimpressed look. “Yup, so now we’re stuck here. So no complaining, it’s one day of camping.”

Keith couldn’t believe Lance was being so unreasonable. He ran for the woods to find the keys while Lance went back to digging through the backseat. After about half an hour, he had given up on his search and returned to the site.

“Well, the keys are gone forever, I guess. Good job on that one, now we’re- when did we get a tent?”

Lance emerged from behind where he had finished knocking the last peg into the ground. His face lit up, completely oblivious to Keith’s anger. “Isn’t it great? I picked it up at the Grand Canyon!”

“So you were planning on stranding us the entire time?”

“Heck yeah! Well, not throwing the keys. I didn’t think you’d fight me so hard on it, but drastic times call for drastic measures.”

Keith wasn’t impressed, but complaining would get them nowhere. Finally, he relented with a sigh. “So what now? We may have a tent, but we don’t have sleeping bags, or food and water, or survival gear.”

Lance laughed. “This is a national forest, not the Amazon rainforest. I picked up some sleeping bags too, they’re in the back. Food I stocked up on. The rest we won’t even need. They have bathrooms and running water here. We’re not going to die or anything. And it’s just one night.”

Keith sighed, pulling his arms tight across his chest. He couldn’t believe he was entertaining this, but…

“So what’s first?”

Lance’s grin turned maniacal. “I’m glad you asked.”

_

The waterfall was beautiful, there was no denying, but it was hard to enjoy the scenery when Lance was constantly making jokes about it being called the Glory Hole. Keith tried to focus on ignoring him, but ignoring Lance was no easy feat.

After that, they spent their day walking trails, climbing rocks, and exploring the woods in general. Keith wasn’t yet ready to admit defeat, but this also wasn’t as bad as he had expected. He wasn’t lying when he said he had never been camping or had much exposure to the outdoors. Sure, he was somewhat used to it in Texas, but that was farm land. There were so many plants and trees and rocks and things to trip over here. And he certainly did a lot of that.

Both of them were exhausted after a day of trekking (or stumbling, in Keith’s case) through the woods, so they retired back to their campsite to eat dinner. Lance was surprisingly good at building a campfire, and had even gone so far to buy marshmallows for them to roast. Keith was berating himself for not even noticing the pile of stuff that had been accumulating in the back of the truck all this time.

Night closed in on them, and long after the sun sank away for the night, Keith was surprised to see Lance pouring water over their fire. He wasn’t exactly a wilderness master, but it seemed like the point of the fire was to provide light and warmth as the air grew colder.

“Hey, Lance, what are you doing? Don’t we want the fire?”

Lance turned to Keith in surprise. He smiled softly. “Sure we do, it’s warm and all, but it’s too bright. We won’t be able to see anything.”

Was Keith going crazy, or was Lance just stupid? “I think the point of the fire is to make it so you can see things, genius.”

Apparently Keith was crazy, because Lance just laughed. “Not the kind of seeing I meant, but thanks for the tip.”

“What did you mean then?”

Lance didn’t voice an answer, instead just reclining back to lay on the ground.

“What are you doing? You’re going to get dirt in your hair and clothes, after we finally showered. Get up.”

Lance still didn’t answer, his expression hidden by the new darkness that surrounded them, and grabbed Keith’s arm to pull him to the ground next to him. Keith started to fight it, but eventually gave in. Lance was acting strange and Keith would play along if it meant he would expl-

_Oh_.

Above them, past the smoke billowing from the extinguished fire and looming trees, were about a billion stars.

“I’m sure you saw a decent sky in Texas,” Lance interjected, “but there was too much light coming from the house and bonfire. And you can’t see anything in the city. But out here, where there’s nothing but miles of forest, you can just see...all of it.”

Lance wasn’t exaggerating. They could see _everything_. Thousand of little pinpricks of light dotted the sky, while the nearly full moon cast a white glow over the world around them. Keith had never seen anything like it before.

Lance pushed himself nearer to Keith on the ground until their heads were touching. Lance lifted an arm and pointed his finger at the sky above. “That,” Lance nearly whispered, “is Ursa Major. And then over there,” he shifted his arm slightly, “is Ursa Minor. The Big Dipper and Little Dipper. Over there…”

They spent what felt like hours there, Lance pointing out different constellations and asterisms while Keith listened and followed in silence. He found himself surprised once more at this new information about Lance. They had really only been gone a few days, even if it felt so much longer. There was so much they didn’t know about each other, and yet it felt like they had been friends for years. The experiences they had shared so far seemed to quickly seal a strong bond.

“You know a lot about the stars,” Keith remarked. “Why?”

Keith could hear the smile in Lance’s voice. “I think they’re so fascinating. Space in general, really. I’ve always wanted to go to space. I wanted to go to school for astronomy or something, but…”

Lance trailed off as the warmth in his voice faded into a sort of sadness. “I guess I didn’t think it would be the best idea. It was just a silly idea from when I was a kid. Things aren’t that easy anymore.”

And oh, the sadness in his voice was unbearable now. Keith couldn’t stand it. In a moment of bravery, or perhaps stupidity, he reached over and grabbed Lance’s hand in his and interlocked their fingers, squeezing tightly.

“Don’t say that,” he reprimanded. “You get to make your own choices, and your dreams aren’t silly. That was the point of leaving in the first place, wasn’t it?”

Lance, to Keith’s surprise, didn’t pull out of his grasp.

“I guess,” he offered. “I don’t really know what I’m going to do once I’m in Virginia. I might even just leave.”

Keith stiffened next to Lance. What? “I thought the whole point of this was because you had something to do in Virginia? Why are we even going there?”

Lance sighed, long and deep. “There’s just something there I have to see.”

Keith felt an argument form on his tongue, but clamped his mouth shut before he could voice it. If he had learned anything over the past few days, it was that Lance was a master of the unexpected. As much as they argued over what to do and where to go, Lance had never wavered in his bigger plan.

Keith trusted him.

And wasn’t that something? They had only known each other for a few days, in spite of living literally feet away from each other for years. Not to mention that the time they had spent together so far hadn’t been smooth sailing. They were two completely different people; Lance was reckless, Keith was orderly. Lance was energetic, and loud, and spontaneous, and emotional, and dramatic. It was everything that Keith hated.

Or...thought he hated.

Because now that he had gotten to know Lance, and seen how these characteristics shaped him, and how he shaped the world around him, it almost left Keith in awe. He had some sort of gravity to him, where you didn’t even have to know him to be captivated by him. Upsetting him felt like a crime, and making him happy left a warm feeling in Keith’s stomach.

It made sense, really. Lance radiated emotion and gave all of himself to everything, no questions asked. Even Keith, who had begged Lance to bring him along even though they had never met, who had been nothing but rude to him for days. Sure, they fought, but Lance never treated Keith with apathy. They were always in this together, even if Keith didn’t know it.

They weren’t far from Virginia now. It would only be about a day now. The thought left an ache deep in Keith’s chest. They had come this far together, fighting each other and themselves and trying to figure out what came next. Now that it was about to be time to decide, it would feel like a loss to continue without the other on the side to cheer them on.

Keith sat up suddenly, face burning at the thought. He didn’t want to leave Lance. It was unimaginable to think about, considering how much they didn’t like each other at the beginning, but their short time together had left them with a stronger bond than Keith anticipated. Lance knew him better than anybody, now. They had expressed things to each other that neither had ever even dared say out loud before.

Tears started to burn Keith’s eyes, and he tried to force them back down. This was silly, this was nothing to cry over.

Lance sat up to look at him, but Keith turned his face away. He didn’t want Lance to see him like this, when he was just being stupid. They had had a good day together, he would not ruin this for Lance.

“What?” Lance laughed. “How did I offend you now? We’ve made it this far, you can’t back out now.”

His attempt at a joke fell flat as Keith just turned further, trying to force his emotions back under control.

Lance sobered at his silence. “Keith, come on,” Lance said, grabbing for Keith’s shoulder. “You can talk to me. You should know that by now.”

Keith couldn’t bear it anymore. He turned to Lance, tears nearly spilling over his eyes. “I’m gonna miss you when this is over.”

Lance’s next words choked in his throat, and he looked surprised, then confused, before his face finally melted into a sad smile. “Hey, now, it’s okay-”

It’s _not_ okay,” Keith interrupted. “What do we do after this? I don’t know what I want to do, and you don’t either. We’ve been putting this off, both of us, since the start, even though that was the point of all of this. And now we have to make a choice, and I’m going to be all alone, and...I don’t know how I’ll do it without you. I’m afraid I’ll just go back, because this whole time I’ve had you to keep me going.”

“You’ll be alright, Keith. You’re so smart, and strong, and confident. If something tries to knock you down, you just knock it back for having the nerve to even try. I doubt I would have made it without you. The first time something went wrong I probably would have just turned back, but you kept me stable. When I don’t know what’s coming next, you tell me I’m being dumb for thinking so much and just...figure it out.”

Lance’s eyes were watering now, too, and they couldn’t do anything but sit there together, alone in the woods, crying.

Finally, Lance laughed and wiped his eyes. “Look at us, both sitting here crying over something so silly. We’ll be fine. We made it for years without each other, I think we’ll manage to go on without each other.”

Keith wiped his face too, but looked up at Lance with an hard expression. “I don’t _want_ to go on without you.”

Lance’s eyes widened. “What?”

Keith would kick himself for this later, but… “I don’t want to figure out what’s next without you. Sure, maybe I could figure it out and be fine. But the only reason I needed to figure things out was because you made me want to.”

Lance sucked in a breath before releasing it slowly. 

He fell back to the ground. “You sure know how to mess with a guy’s emotions, dude.”

Keith followed suit, their shoulders almost touching. “I could say the same for you.”

The stars above shone down on the world around them. Crickets chirped from the woods, and leaves rustled in the warm breeze above.

“Keith.”

Lance didn’t continue, letting Keith’s name hang in the air. Keith turned to him, and was met with blue eyes staring directly at him.

“Lance,” Keith responded.

They both sat there for a moment, just looking at each other, lit by nothing but the soft glow of the moon.

“I…” Lance started, trailing off. There was nothing to say. Instead, he moved his head ever so slightly closer to Keith, not once breaking eye contact.

Keith followed his lead, letting forehead move until it touched Lance’s.

Lance was the one to seal the remaining space between them.

They stayed that way for a while, both refusing to pull away from each other. As they deepened into the kiss, Keith rolled to his knees to sit up and lean over Lance, hands braced on either side of his head. Lance extended up to meet him, chin pulled upwards by an invisible force, hands cupping Keith’s face.

Lance was finally the one to break them apart, letting his head fall to the earth below and opening his eyes to look up at Keith. Keith rolled back to his side, letting his shoulder knock against Lance. Lance’s arm moved closer to Keith, hesitating before loosely wrapping their pinkies together.

They both lay in silence, observing the sea of stars above. Keith smiled.

“You were right. I love camping.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I put a pining joke in the summary. Sue me.
> 
> Sorry this update took a while! I was gone this weekend, so I wrote, because I'm an idiot who decided I have to write every day, but I didn't have any of this with me so I wrote some other stuff instead. On the plus side, I've got the start to 3 new Voltron fics started, so if you don't hate my writing, that's probably good news for you? Some of them should be one shots, because boy howdy, I love writing this but long stories are _exhausting_. I have a lot of ideas and I just want to get all of them out of my head, but I know if I pause this I probably won't come back.
> 
> Tbh, I'm not in love with this chapter, because I didn't plan it out that well, but I achieved the ultimate goal of the kiss which is good enough for me. Literally, my only notes for this chapter were "they go to the woods and there's lots of pines and pining." After this, the only thing left is Virginia! (And maybe an epilogue)
> 
> And, as always, feel free to hit me up [at my tumblr](https://zurela.tumblr.com/), where I reblog a lot of cute art and sometimes freak about about what I'm writing.


	8. 8:19 on a Tuesday Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They make it to Virginia, finally.

Stargazing lasted only a little while longer before Lance started to doze on the ground, so the two of them retired to their tent, both willfully ignoring whatever had just happened. Keith knew that he liked it, and he thought Lance seemed to enjoy it too, but…

Did this change anything? Was it just one night of giving into something before they still inevitably went their separate ways? After all Keith had said, and all that Lance said about him, it would be hard to do that. But what else were they going to do? This wasn’t a relationship. This was just one kiss. They couldn’t settle down and live their lives together as if they had known each other for years.

Keith crawled into his sleeping bag and let out a long sigh as his eyes fell closed. They could figure all that out in the morning. For now, it was best to get as much sleep as he could before they were on the road again. Keith would press Lance on this matter later, but right now he was too lost in his thoughts to feel like pushing anything. Even with only a few hours to sleep, it would still be a very long night.

But if Lance curled up against Keith in his sleep, that was okay too.

_

“Oh, shit,” Keith realized when he awoke the next morning. “Hey Lance, you genius, you threw the keys into the woods. We need to go find them before we can leave.”

That could take hours. Keith hadn’t been able to find them yesterday, and who knows what could’ve happened overnight? An animal could have picked it up, the wind could have blown leaves over them, they could be long gone. Maybe another camper picked them up and turned them into the campground office. If they hurried, they could do a search and ask around for without wasting too mu-

Lance wasn’t even up yet.

Keith rolled his eyes and gently kicked Lance in the side. “Hey. Lance. How do you plan on getting us out of here without keys?”

Lance rolled over with a sleepy smile, then stretched his arms above his head before folding them behind his head. “Well hey there, early bird. What’s got your feathers ruffled this morning?”

Keith’s patience was growing thinner by the second. “ _Someone_ had to prove a point and threw the keys in the woods. We’re stranded.”

Lance chuckled and crawled out of his sleeping bag, clothes rumpled from sleep. “Don’t worry about that. I have a spare set in the glove box.”

“You- what?” Keith spluttered. “So we were never stuck here? You tricked me into camping?”

Lance turned to Keith and flicked him on the nose with a smirk. “That’s right.”

He exited the tent, with Keith right on his heels, arguments flowing from his mouth freely. “You can’t do that! You scared the crap out of me! And here I thought we were trapped, but no, Lance just had to prove a point-”

Lance whirled on Keith, and Keith briefly wondered if he had gone too far. Instead, though, Lance only grinned. “Don’t pretend you didn’t have fun,” he said, before turning back to the truck.

The two of them managed to pack their food, sleeping bags, and tent in only half an hour before they were back on the road. The sun had only just started to rise, and the whole world seemed to glow. As boring as the drive was, it was undeniably beautiful.

Keith started the drive for the day, making their way towards Tennessee. Neither of them turned the radio on, and they both stayed quiet. Keith figured Lance was planning his next stop, and determined they were both going to just let whatever happened last night go.

“Hey Keith,” Lance interrupted his thoughts. “We need to talk about...what happened.”

Apparently Keith couldn’t read Lance at all.

He deflated. “Yeah. Okay. We do need to talk.”

Lance went quiet, tilting his head down and taking deep breaths.

Keith sighed. “Well? You gonna talk?”

Lance turned on him with a scowl. “I’m thinking, dude! I don’t want to put my foot in my mouth.”

“You’ll do that anyway,” Keith said with a chuckle. “Don’t try to impress me.”

“I don’t think anyone could ever impress you, Keith.”

“True. Now talk.”

Lance sighed and pushed his hands through his hair. “Do you regret what we did last night?”

Keith inhaled sharply and contemplated how to go about this. Apparently, they were taking the direct approach. It was probably for the best. 

“You say you want to talk then just ask me to go first? Rude.”

“Keith.”

Okay. Time to be brave. “No, I don’t regret it. I don’t regret a single thing from this trip, okay? I don’t regret kissing you, I don’t regret camping, I don’t regret seeing my family. I don’t regret getting in the car that day. I will never regret that.”

Lance pursed his lips and blew out a long breath, a faraway look in his eyes. “Wow. Okay. I didn’t expect that much out of you.”

Keith’s face burned bright red. “Yeah? Well? I was being honest. But sure, go ahead and laugh at me.”

Lance turned to Keith, who was now looking resolutely at the road. “Keith,” he turned serious then, grabbing Keith’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t making fun of you, I just didn’t expect you to be so open about it.”

He pulled away, and turned to gaze out the window. “The truth is, I don’t regret it either. I only asked because I was afraid you were going to say we should forget it even happened, that it was a dumb mistake. I didn’t expect you to...actually like me. Actually want that.”

Keith pulled off onto the side of the road and put the car in park.

“Uh...Keith?”

Keith ignored him and turned to Lance with a somber, almost angry, expression. “Don’t ever think you’re not worth liking. I told you last night how great I think you are. I chose to come, I chose to stay, I chose to kiss you. I did it because I like you and I like to see you happy.”

Lance said nothing, just stared at Keith, eyes shining. He leaned forward suddenly, roughly grabbing Keith by the head and pulling their faces together. Keith leaned into him, cupping his face between his hands. 

Keith pulled away after a few minutes, clearing his throat and turning to stare at the steering wheel, face on fire. “Don’t regret that one either,” he mumbled.

Lance hesitated, then broke out into laughter. “Come on,” he prodded. “Get to the next gas station and I’ll take over.”

_

Their day was spent with brief detours in Tennessee at Nashville and Memphis. While they were in a bit of a rush to make it to Virginia, it would have felt wrong to skip two of the biggest cities in the south. As opposed to when they were in other cities, though, here they held hands, kissed freely, an unbreakable link between them.

They stopped at a restaurant to eat in Memphis, sitting next to each other out in the bright sunshine. Both of them pestered the other, challenging each other to try their food without choking. It felt so freeing to ignore everything that came before and after this, just enjoy being together. Keith couldn’t imagine a more perfect day.

Which broke his heart, then, to know it would end. “I’m gonna miss this,” he mentioned out of the blue.

Lance smiled and turned to him. “Miss what?”

“This. Us just being able to hang out and laugh together.”

Lance’s relaxed expression turned slightly confused. “Well, we’ll have plenty of time to do this more. We’ll be busy, I’m sure, but we’ll figure it out.”

Keith pushed back slightly and turned to look at Lance face forward. “Yeah, maybe for the next day or so.”

The smiled now completely drained from Lance’s face. “What do you mean?”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Well, it’s not like we’re going to move in together. Eventually this has to end. You know, ‘all good things come to an end’ and all that.”

Lance’s face soured. “And what?” he snapped. “That’s it? What about all that stuff you said about not regretting this?”

“I don’t regret it!” Keith argued. “I just didn’t think this was something we were, you know, going to continue. We have our own lives to live.”

“I’m sorry, Keith, I didn’t realize I was holding you back.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “That’s not what I meant, Lance. Just that the point of this was to do what we want, not something for other people.”

Lance gave him an incredulous glare. “What if those are the same thing?”

Before Keith could question what he meant, Lance was walking away. Keith ran to catch up to him. “Wait, Lance! What’s wrong? I thought that’s what you wanted?”

Lance ignored him, pulling his arm away when Keith grabbed for it. “Just forget it. We’re gonna have to drive nonstop now in order to make it on time.”

_

Neither of them said a word for the rest of the drive.

_

Keith was dozing in the passenger seat late into the evening when he was startled awake as the car came to an abrupt stop. He stretched and looked around outside the windows to see them parked in a small parking lot next to an empty convenience store.

“Where are we?” he asked. “Do we need gas? Do you want me to take over?”

He turned to look at Lance, whose empty gaze was fixed forward. He didn’t even look towards Keith. “Come on, we’re here.”

Here? They were in the middle of nowhere. A few small shops surrounded them, and past that, the road stretched into a forested area. There were a few other cars parked nearby, but not a single person was in sight. Aside from the names plastered across the stores, there were no signs or anything to indicate where they were. Keith could only assume they were in Virginia, but as for where exactly they were, he couldn’t begin to guess.

This is what Lance drove across the country for?

At the thought of Lance, Keith looked to see him already striding away towards the woods. He leapt from the car and followed, keeping a few feet between them.

As they approached the trees, it seemed momentarily as if they were just walking into the heart of the woods. Upon closer inspection, however, Keith noticed a small opening in the line of trees that marked the beginning of a trail. Lance started down it, and Keith nearly tripped following him as the concrete beneath his feet suddenly turned to to gravel.

The path was too thin to allow them to walk side by side even if they wanted to, so Keith stayed back and watched Lance’s back move ahead of him. The only sounds to be heard were birds in the distance, the muffled crunch of gravel underfoot, and the occasional brush of a branch as it was pushed aside to let them pass. While this was undoubtedly a hiking trail, it had clearly not been maintained in a while. Branches and vines grew into the space, and they occasionally had to jump over logs from fallen trees.

Twenty minutes later, Lance still had yet to say a word. Keith knew he upset him, and the guilt was really starting to gnaw at him. But was Lance so upset that he was going to lead him into the woods to get lost and then ditch him? Keith couldn’t imagine why else they were here. He thought that maybe he would deserve it.

The breeze left the trees rustling in a constant low hum, but as they walked further, Keith realized it was getting louder. Was the wind picking up?

Finally, the path opened to a clearing, and the gravel started to thin into a more solid, sandy ground. Keith followed Lance as the trail spread and opened out, and-

Oh.

This is what Lance drove across the country for.

The trees has opened to reveal a large beach that stretched down the coastline, the more solid ground giving way to deep sand. The land curved around them, almost like a bowl, before disappearing on the horizon. It leaving the beach feeling secluded, yet also open. In both directions, there were no houses, no people. Nothing. 

Keith now realized that the increasingly loud noise was not the wind, but rather the waves that occasionally lapped against the shore. The soft breeze had become stronger now, with salty spray from the sea misting his face. It felt refreshing after the long hike.

The most stunning part, though, was the sky. The horizon glowed bright orange, fading to a pale pink and turning the rest of the sky a soft lilac. The sun hovered just over the water, only minutes away from disappearing completely.

It was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen.

“Lance?”

“It’s nearly 8:00,” he interceded, not yet facing Keith. “The sun sets here at 8:19 pm. I wanted to get here before then.”

Keith finally approached him, sitting in the sand next to his feet. Lance crossed his arms and scoffed, but then let out a sigh and eventually sat next to him with a huff.

“I grew up here,” Lance started, answering the questions Keith wouldn’t ask. “Well, I didn’t actually grow up here, but when we first moved here from Cuba, we went to Florida. Like I said, worst state on the planet, but it was nice. Every summer, we would drive up here to my uncle’s cabin. It’s a few miles down the road.”

He circled his arms around his tucked knees. “We never came here to go swimming, there was a public beach up the road a little bit. But we would always come here to watch the sunset. I don’t think a lot of people knew about it, because we almost never saw anyone.”

Keith watched him, his face sad yet fond, eyes trained forward on the scene in front of them. “I haven’t been here in years, not since we moved to California. It’s fine, we have a lot of family over there, and I still see my relatives from the east coast. But we never come here anymore. My uncle sold his cabin, but I could never forget the sunsets. It was always my favorite.”

“Lance,” Keith tried to interrupt, but Lance wouldn’t let him.

“I wanted to see it one more time,” he continued. “I didn’t know what would come after this, and I still don’t, really, but I knew I had to see this. When I was here, it felt like anything was possible. When the I could see the beach like this, and listen to the water, and watch the sky until there were stars everywhere and it was freezing cold, I knew everything would be okay. As long as I had this, it would be okay.”

Lance turned to Keith then, eyes hard. “But I don’t know that,” he snapped, voice clipped and unforgiving. “I thought things would be okay. But now I’m more confused than ever.”

He tried to maintain the cold tone to his voice, but couldn’t fight the break in his voice as his eyes filled with tears. “I don’t know what’s next. I came to see what I wanted to see. And now we’re here, and...that’s it. We’re here. And all I can think is that I should just go home now.”

Keith leaned forward, hands gripping at his hair. “Lance…” he trailed off. He couldn’t look at Lance like this, so he let himself fall backwards to face the cloudless purple sky.

“I’m so sorry,” he began, and his voice gave away that he completely meant it. “I really thought that this was something that would end. You worked so hard to make your choice, and go your own way. I didn’t want you to make choices based on what I wanted. And honestly, I didn’t want to let myself make choices for you, either. I left to find my own way. What if I couldn’t do that because I just replaced my parents with you? Even if you don’t try to put that pressure on me, I put it on myself. I’m done doing what I think will make other people happy.”

Lance stayed sitting upright, but he lowered his head to the side so Keith could hear him. “I never wanted you to make choices based on what I want, Keith,” he answered, voice wavering. “But you don’t get to decide what I choose, either. And my choice was to stay with you, wherever you go, because you make happy. And it makes me happy to make you happy. If that’s not what you want, then that’s your choice. You do what makes you happy. I just thought I was part of that.”

Keith sprang back up to look at Lance. “You _do_ make me happy, idiot. I...I just thought it would be wrong for both of us to change our plans for each other.”

“What plan?!” Lance interrupted, gesturing out to the scene before them. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re here, the trip is done, and we don’t have a plan, Keith. My plan is to make a plan. With you. So we can both figure out what we want, and what we need.”

Keith groaned, rubbing his hands through his hair. “What are we doing?” he asked in exasperation. “We’re talking ourselves in circles here.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Well, turns out we’re both terrible at figuring out what to do.”

Keith sat upright suddenly. “Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to tell each other what we want.”

Lance chuckled and looked to him out of the corner of his eye. “I think that’s what we’ve been trying to do, genius.”

“No,” Keith responded. “We’ve been trying to figure out what the other wants and hiding behind what we think that is. And that’s what we were explicitly _not_ going to do. Here, turn and face me.”

“Uh, okay?” Lance seemed unconvinced, but he did as Keith said.

They found themselves sitting cross-legged on the sand, facing each other, glowing in the sun.

“Okay, now we just say things that we want to do after this,” Keith said. “Anything. I’ll go first.”

He straightened his back a little, chin tilted up, and looked Lance directly in the eye. “I want to find a hotel to stay at tonight. I’m tired of sleeping in the car.”

Lance smirked. “Alright. I want to find something to eat first.”

“I want to figure out where on earth in Virginia we are right now.”

“I want to stay here for a while,” Lance said, then froze. He looked at Keith sheepishly. “Sorry, that-”

“No,” Keith interrupted. “I said anything. I want to start looking for an apartment.”

“I want to find a job that I like.”

“I want to go to school.”

Lance hesitated, then nodded. “I want to do that too.”

“I want to go to a good school.”

“I want to get good grades.”

“I want to get my degree in something I care about.”

“I want to study space.”

“I want you to be happy.”

“I want you to be happy with me.”

“I want to be close to you.”

“I want us to go to schools near each other, and live in shitty dorms, and eat terrible food, and stress about exams, and work our asses off. Together.”

“I want to be a part of your life.”

“I want us to figure this out together. Not for each other, but because we make each other happy.”

“And we do what makes us happy.”

“We do.”

They sat, watching each other for a moment. They had made it. They had driven across the country. They had crashed, and fought, and laughed, and learned, and changed. And somehow, they made it to the other side, alone under a glowing sun, different, _better_ than they were before.

Keith leaned forward and rolled to his knees, his face right in front of Lance’s. He leaned in and kissed him, softly and slowly. When he pulled away, he smiled at Lance.

“I want to watch the sunset with you.”

“I want to do that too.”

Keith rolled to spread his legs to the side, leaning over to lay his head on Lance’s shoulder. Lance stretched his legs in front of him and placed his head on top of Keith’s.

It was everything they ever wanted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my goodness, we're nearly at the end! All that's left is an epilogue, which will probably be pretty short. Unless you guys think it should be left open-ended? I have plans for what they do afterwards, but I could always just keep that to myself.
> 
> Either way, hooray! These boys are finally happy! And it only took a lot of arguing and pining and figuring out what they wanted!
> 
> I've had a really great time writing this, and I've gotten so many great comments on it, and I'm already excited about what I'm working on next! Get ready for weird space diseases, nearly drowning, and homesickess? And Klance, obviously.
> 
> Excited by those ideas, or this chapter, or the theoretical epilogue, or whatever else you get excited about? Why not [take a trip to my tumblr](https://zurela.tumblr.com/) and tell me about it!
> 
> P.S. Can we pretend it's possible to get from western Arkansas to eastern Virginia in 14 hours with time to stop at a few cities? Thanks *finger guns*


	9. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What comes next?

It was almost unbelievable to think that a year previous, Lance and Keith had never even met. To all of their friends, it seemed impossible. Yet less than a year later, they still had a strong, healthy, and supportive relationship.

Of course, to anyone who didn’t have a more intimate friendship with them, it didn’t appear that way. By no means were they outright mean to each other, and they rarely truly fought, but they just seemed to irritate the ever living hell out of each other.

Shiro, however, had known them for long enough to see the underlying fondness there. He had becomes friends with Keith after they became roommates together at Virginia Tech. Lance and their other friend Hunk were their neighbors. Down the hall their other two friends, Allura and Pidge, shared a room as well.

Allura had disliked Lance because he was always flirting with her, until Shiro informed her that Lance was in a committed relationship with Keith. She had balked at that, and went straight to Keith to tell him. So she was surprised, then, when Keith had laughed instead of becoming angry.

“Yeah,” he told her, “he’s like that. He’s a total idiot, honestly. I love him.”

After that, they had all been fast friends. Despite Keith’s tendency to call Lance an idiot, he was actually very intelligent, and was studying aerospace engineering, with dreams of someday going to space.

Keith, surprisingly, was studying biology. Lance often joked that they would go to space together, and Keith would be like The Martian, growing potatoes on some new planet. Keith would mock him for being such a nerd, but would also frequently barge into Lance’s room after a geology class talking about how some of the new planets NASA discovered could have aliens.

It was in moments like that, and times like today, that Shiro could see that they made a good team. While they would frequently mock each other, they also supported each other’s dreams and desires, almost relentlessly. If one of them was ever upset or questioning themselves, the other was right there to keep them going.

Today, Lance had walked into their room as if he lived there, not unlike most days. He was still in his work uniform, an apron from the coffee shop near campus where he worked as a barista. Keith had been in bed studying, until Lance threw himself across the bed, dramatically whining about how tired he was.

“Lance, I’m trying to study.”

“You’ve studied enough, you were up all weekend. I know you know what you’re doing.”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t do better. Did you get my coffee?”

Lance buried his face into Keith’s leg. “On the desk,” he mumbled through the rough fabric.

Keith placed a kiss on the top of his head. “Thanks.”

Lance rolled over so his head was resting in his lap. “You owe me.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, add it to my tab.”

“No,” Lance protested. “Your payment must be in the form of snuggles.”

Shiro cleared his throat before Lance could go on, knowing he would, in order to bring attention to the fact that they weren’t alone.

“Oh, hey Shiro!” Lance brightened, but didn’t seem at all embarrassed at his displays of affection. “Tell Keith he’s studying too much.”

“I’m trying to get good grades!”

“You will get good grades! But not if you’ve exhausted yourself!”

“Please, I found you passed out in the library last week on your textbook.”

“Yeah, and you didn’t even wake me up! You could have at least brought me coffee or something.”

“You needed the sleep, and I didn’t have time to get you coffee. Besides, we both know lemonade is your favorite.”

“Oh my god, I drink your piss _one time_ and you can never let that go.”

Shiro resigned himself to being ignored again, which was fine by him. They would probably go at it like this for another twenty minutes before Lance fell asleep on Keith.

Sure enough, not even half an hour later, Lance was completely passed out. His head stayed on Keith’s lap, who had moved his book to his side so his other hand was free to brush through Lance’s hair.

Keith wasn’t the only one hard at work. He and Shiro both took great care to remain quiet, as they knew Lance really hadn’t been sleeping much lately, between studying for finals and working extra shifts at the coffee shop. He had been trying to save money for the vacation that the six of them were taking at the end of the semester to the other side of the state.

Lance wouldn’t give them many details, only saying that they would be by the beach, and that they needed sleeping bags and tents. There had been some protest at that, particularly from Pidge, but Keith had surprised them by backing him up. He said it would be a mini road trip, and that they could trust Lance on this one.

The six of them were all worn out from the stress of finals, so it hadn’t been too hard to agree to a beach vacation. They couldn’t deny Keith and Lance when they looked so happy, either.

And really, how bad could a road trip with Keith and Lance be?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my goodness, it's finally done!!! I uploaded the previous chapter and figured, hey, why not just write the epilogue now? It was supposed to wait for the weekend, but I knew it wouldn't take too long to write. Plus, that last chapter got me in the writing mood, what can I say.
> 
> I know I said before that I would wait to see if anyone wanted an epilogue, but gosh darn it, I just wanted to see my boys create a happy life together. Sue me. In the bigger scope of this, the full story is that the two of them work for the next year to make some money before enrolling at Virginia Tech together. They stay in Virginia, and make frequent trips to the beach to go camping and watch the sunset. Before the summer ends, they both briefly return home to see their families (and apologize for leaving so suddenly) as well as pack up some more of their stuff. Lance makes up with his parents, and they both express what they've been feeling to their parents, who fully support them, because I want them to be happy, okay?
> 
> And of course, there is a real, planned family reunion later in Texas, which is somehow much bigger than the first one. Keith and Lance love it.
> 
> And to conclude the longest author's note ever, I just want to say thank you once again for all of the love I've gotten for this! I'm so glad some of you guys could relate to some of the stuff I wrote about, and hearing people say they enjoy it makes me so happy. Once again, you can always [talk to me on tumblr](https://zurela.tumblr.com/) if you have story ideas you want me to write, or just want to chat.
> 
> A thousand hugs, a million kisses, ten billion thanks,  
> Bee


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